After Zhu Ping'an confirmed that the cotton armor was of high quality, he ordered people to bring all 100 sets of cotton armor to the training ground during the soldiers' training. Then he ordered people to bring 100 sets of iron armor and put them all on the scarecrows.
One hundred sets of cotton armor and one hundred sets of iron armor stood in front of the soldiers, shining brightly in the sun.
"That's the cotton armor developed by our Zhejiang Army. It has a helmet, a neck guard, a breastplate, and arm guards. Hehe, it even protects the crotch. It's covered with copper nails without any gaps. It's more comprehensive than iron armor, and it looks more majestic than iron armor."
"The cotton armor looks good but is not practical, right? I heard that our border troops have a lot of cotton armor. However, cotton armor is made of cotton after all. It is definitely warm, but its protection is not as good as iron armor."
"What are you doing with all these cotton and iron armors? Are you going to give them to us as a reward? Hehe, I've been training hard these past few days, and the sergeant praised me. Maybe I can get a set. Well, it would be better to give me a set of iron armor. I'm always a little worried about the protection of cotton armor."
Looking at the two hundred sets of armor in front of them, the Zhejiang Army soldiers were confused and could not help but lower their heads and mutter to each other.
"My fellow soldiers, of the two hundred sets of armor in front of us, one hundred are cotton armor, produced by our equipment battalion, and the other one hundred are iron armor, which we received from the Ministry of War."
Zhu Ping'an pointed at the armor placed in front of everyone and introduced it to the Zhejiang army soldiers.
"Sir, why do you display these armors? Are you going to reward them to us?" someone asked.
"The reason why we put these armors out is to verify the protective ability of cotton armor in front of everyone. As the saying goes, let's take a look at the mule and the horse. Today, let's take a look."
Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly, and without playing any guessing game with everyone, he directly stated his purpose and revealed the answer.
"How to verify?"
The soldiers were extremely curious.
"First, each squad will send out one person and have them stand in front of these two hundred sets of armor," Zhu Ping'an gave the order.
Soon, each group sent out one person and stood in front of the armor. As the number of people was less than 200, there was still a shortage of ten people, so Zhu Ping'an randomly selected ten people from the soldiers and had each of them stand in front of a set of armor.
"Okay, now draw your sabers and use all your strength to chop at the armor in front of you."
Zhu Pingan gave the order.
"Yes, sir!" The two hundred men drew their swords and swung them hard at the armor in front of them, using all their might.
Bang, bang, bang... A series of dull collision sounds were heard, followed by bursts of surprised voices. The soldiers looked at the cotton armor in front of them in disbelief. It was not surprising that the iron armor could block it, but the cotton armor could actually block all of them as well.
"Okay, all the soldiers can come forward and take a look." Zhu Ping'an said.
The soldiers could no longer suppress their curiosity and stepped forward to take a closer look, followed by bursts of surprise.
"Ouch, the cotton armor is not broken... I swung the knife with such great force, but it only left a mark on the cotton armor."
"It's not surprising that iron armor can protect against sword strikes, but I didn't expect that cotton armor can also protect against sword strikes."
When the Zhejiang Army soldiers saw that all the one hundred sets of cotton armor could block the sword strikes, they opened their mouths in surprise.
"Okay, soldiers, please go back. Next, send out 500 archers, and shoot arrows at these two hundred sets of armor from 20 steps away. Each person shoots three arrows, straight or projectile, whatever you want, to see if these armors can block the arrows."
Zhu Ping'an gave another order.
Soon, five hundred soldiers stepped out, retreated twenty steps, and began shooting arrows at the armor in front of them.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
A thousand feather arrows whizzed towards them, covering both cotton and iron armor.
The fixed target provided no interference, and the soldiers performed well in archery. Most of the 1,500 arrows hit the target, and almost every armored soldier was hit by five or six arrows.
"Okay, all the soldiers, please come forward and take a look at the arrow protection performance of the iron armor and cotton armor."
Zhu Pingan said with a smile.
A group of soldiers stepped forward, moving in front of each piece of armor, carefully observing the condition of the armor under the feather arrows.
The iron armor was strong, and the arrows did not penetrate or damage it. At most, they left a deep hole in a dozen sets of iron armor. However, many scarecrows under the iron armor were hit by arrows. Not to mention those hit in the face, there were more than a dozen scarecrows wearing iron armor hit by arrows in the neck, seven or eight were hit in the crotch, and several were hit by arrows in the gaps of the mail mail... ... There was no way, the protective area of the iron armor was insufficient, and the gaps between the combined components of the iron armor were inevitable. These gaps gave the arrows an opportunity to take advantage of.
In comparison, the strength of cotton armor is slightly inferior to that of iron armor, and almost none of the hundred sets of cotton armor are intact.
Quite a few cotton armors had holes shot in them by the feather arrows, but that was all. Although the feather arrows left a hole in the cotton armors, they did not penetrate them. After poking them with the hand, it was found that only the first cotton layer of some of them was broken, revealing the iron lining inside. The iron lining was just a little dented, while some of them did not even have the first cotton layer broken.
However, not a single arrow pierced the cotton armor.
In addition, the scarecrows in cotton armor are much safer than those in iron armor. Among the 100 scarecrows in cotton armor, except for the one with an arrow in the face, none of them was shot in the neck or the crotch.
As for the gaps in the cotton armor, the cotton armor was much more tightly put together, with almost no exposed gaps, so there was no chance that the scarecrow would be hit by an arrow in the gaps in the cotton armor.
"Oh, come to think of it, the ability of this cotton armor to defend against arrows is much better than that of iron armor. The cotton armor has a large protective surface, and it can protect the neck, crotch and other parts. There are no gaps. The scarecrows wearing iron armor still have arrows in the throat, crotch, and thighs, but none of the scarecrows wearing cotton armor have arrows in the throat, crotch, or thighs."
"It seems that this cotton armor is not just for show. It cannot be cut by a knife or penetrated by an arrow. It protects you tightly. Wearing such a cotton armor on the battlefield, you don't have to be afraid of being cut by a knife or shot by an arrow. That means you can save several lives."
"I weighed it and found that this cotton armor is at least half as light as the iron armor. It is lighter and more labor-saving to wear than the iron armor. It is also softer and more portable than the iron armor, and it is also more flexible than the iron armor. It is a great advantage on the battlefield."
"It seems that this cotton armor is both good-looking and useful. No wonder you bought so much cotton some time ago."
A group of Zhejiang Army officers and soldiers witnessed, verified and compared the anti-arrow performance of cotton armor and iron armor with their own eyes. Their view on the cotton armor can be described as being rethought. They went from looking down on the cotton armor in the beginning to now appreciating it.