"Zihou, how much does this cotton armor cost? How long does it take to make a set of this kind of cotton armor?"
After testing the cotton armor, Zhang Jing called Zhu Ping'an over and asked him in detail.
Zhu Ping'an knew that Zhang Jing was impressed by the excellent defensive performance of the cotton armor, which was a good thing. If he could take this opportunity to promote the Qing cotton armor to the Ming official army, it would have a significant bonus to the combat effectiveness of the Ming official army.
Although the armor rate is not a decisive factor in the combat effectiveness of an army, it is undeniable that the higher the armor rate, the greater the chances of winning for the army.
Historically, the armor rate of the Ming army was not high due to various reasons. Although many people in modern times have concluded that the armor rate of the Ming army was about 90% through various arguments, this is not accurate. Take the famous Songjin Battle as an example. After the battle, the Qing army under Huang Taiji counted the bodies of the Ming army and found that the armor rate of the dead was less than one-third.
With the financial resources of the Ming Dynasty, it was not a problem for the official army to popularize cotton armor. The armor rate of the Ming army was close to 100%, so at least the lower limit would not be too low.
This was a good opportunity for the butterfly effect, so Zhu Ping'an would not let it go. He strongly recommended it to Zhang Jing: "Report to the Governor. To make a set of cotton armor, you need eight catties of cotton, twenty catties of iron and eight catties of copper, with a total weight of about thirty-six catties, and the cost is about one-fourth of that of iron armor. Our Zhejiang Army makes cotton armor, which is divided into eight parts: helmet, body armor, shoulder pads, armor sleeves, front crotch, left crotch, armor skirt, and breastplate. There are ten processes, and each process can be started at the same time. The more people there are, the greater the output. From cotton to cotton armor, a few days is enough if the weather is good. It takes much less time than iron armor, and is suitable for short-term large-scale deployment."
"Oh, it saves time, effort and money. Not bad, not bad..." Zhang Jing nodded after hearing this.
The cost of a set of Zhejiang Army cotton armor is only one-fourth of that of iron armor, and the production process only requires ten steps, and it can be completed in a few days. As for iron armor, not to mention its high cost, the production process is also very complicated and time-consuming, and it cannot be mass-produced. In comparison, the advantages of cotton armor are too great.
"The cotton armor is good, but what should we do when it rains? It rains a lot in the south of the Yangtze River. Once it rains, the cotton armor will get soaked. Not to mention how heavy it is, what if the soldiers get sick? Besides, it will easily rot when wet..." an official said.
"Get some water."
Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly and asked someone to fetch several large buckets of water.
"Use a ladle to pour water onto the cotton armor, and pour a few more ladlefuls on each pair of cotton armor..." Zhu Ping'an instructed the soldiers.
The soldiers followed the order without any compromise and poured water on the cotton armor. Each pair of cotton armor was poured with six or seven buckets of water, which was heavier than a heavy rain.
In full view of everyone, the water flowed down as soon as it was splashed on the cotton armor, as if it had been splashed on linoleum.
"Please take a look, gentlemen." Zhu Ping'an asked Zhang Jing and others to come forward to check the cotton armor.
"It's actually waterproof?" Everyone checked the cotton armor and found that it was almost not wet. They opened their mouths in disbelief.
"This is the cotton armor developed by our Zhejiang Army. It is invulnerable to swords and knives, can protect against bows and arrows, is rainproof, does not rot, and cannot be damaged by bird guns. If the battle is fierce and the cotton armor is damaged by sharp weapons or firearms, you only need to replace the damaged parts. If the shoulder pad is damaged, replace the shoulder pad; if the armor sleeve is damaged, replace the armor sleeve..."
Zhu Ping'an continued to recommend it to Zhang Jing and others.
"Yes, there is great potential for cotton armor. How many skilled craftsmen are there in your Zhejiang Army who can make cotton armor?" Zhang Jing asked.
"Most of the soldiers in our Zhejiang Army Equipment Battalion can skillfully make cotton armor. In addition, the production process of cotton armor is simple. A blacksmith can master the production process of cotton armor after several days of training." Zhu Pingan replied.
Zhang Jing nodded after hearing this and said, "I will organize a group of blacksmiths to come to your camp to learn how to make cotton armor. You are not allowed to keep it to yourself."
"Don't worry, Governor. Our army will never keep anything to ourselves and will teach you everything we know," Zhu Ping'an promised.
"Very good." Zhang Jing nodded. The cotton armor was much more valuable than the pigs raised in the camp just now. With this harvest, even if the Zhejiang Army relied on firearms and went astray, this inspection trip would not be in vain.
Well, let’s take a look at the Zhejiang Army’s firearms drills, correct Zhu Ping’an’s wrong ideas, and lead the Zhejiang Army onto the right track.
Just consider it as a reward for the Zhejiang Army’s breeding and cotton armor.
So Zhang Jing said to Zhu Ping'an, "Zihou, you guys continue to practice, let us see how your army practices firearms."
"Yes, sir."
Zhu Ping'an accepted the order and ordered the Zhejiang army to continue training.
"Sir, please sit on the stage and watch." Zhu Ping'an led Zhang Jing and others to sit on the temporary platform.
Zhang Jing and others sat on chairs on the high platform and watched the Zhejiang army's training.
In the sight of everyone, soldiers from a battalion of the Zhejiang Army were lined up on the parade ground. The battalion commander raised his saber and swung it vigorously, and twenty soldiers came out of the battalion, each carrying a novel style of small bowl-mouthed gun on his shoulder.
Although it is called a bowl-mouth gun, it is actually very different from the bowl-mouth gun. The gun body is thinner and longer than the bowl-mouth gun, and there are five iron hoops on the gun body. It looks a bit like a Portuguese cannon, but it is much smaller and simpler than the Portuguese cannon.
It is estimated that each small cannon weighs about 20 to 30 kilograms and can be carried by one person.
There are two tiger-leg-like brackets at the front end of the muzzle. The brackets are not fixed and can move at a certain angle. After the soldiers carry the small cannon out, they put the small cannon on the ground and adjust the brackets so that the cannon points diagonally upward to the sky.
After adjusting the angle, the soldier took out a large oil paper gunpowder bag from his waist, bit it open with his mouth and poured it into the muzzle. The gunpowder bag contained black gunpowder mixed with pebbles, and then he stuffed a solid stone bullet into it and compacted it.
The soldiers reloaded very quickly, obviously well-trained.
"Fire!" a sergeant shouted, and twenty gunners lit the fuses almost at the same time.
In an instant, there was a loud noise of "bang, bang, bang..." like a landslide.
Twenty artillery pieces opened fire almost simultaneously, accompanied by a burst of fire and smoke, and large and small stone bombs flew everywhere, forming a dark mass. The ground about two hundred meters ahead was full of potholes caused by the bombardment. There were densely packed small craters around the twenty obviously large craters, covering an area of nearly one hundred meters around them. The bombarded ground was like the surface of the moon.
Zhang Jing and others who were watching on the high platform couldn't help but shrink their eyes. The Zhejiang Army's artillery was small, but it was very powerful. The range of the artillery was much longer than that of the bowl-mouth gun, and it was not much inferior to the Portuguese artillery. Moreover, the Zhejiang Army's artillery fired large and small stone shells at the same time, which could kill a large area with one blast, causing great destructive power.
If this cannon fires into the group of Japanese pirates, a large number of them will be killed in one shot...
Before Zhang Jing and others could recover from the power of the Zhejiang Army's small artillery, they saw the Zhejiang Army soldiers began to skillfully load ammunition. Then, at an order, another shot was fired, with only a few breaths between the two shots.
Before Zhang Jing and others could come to their senses, they saw that this battalion of Zhejiang Army soldiers began to rush forward as soon as the second cannon fired.
It rushed over a hundred meters in one breath and stopped about fifty meters away from the landing point of the shell.
Then, Zhang Jing and others saw the first three rows of Zhejiang army soldiers. The first row squatted, the second row bent over, and the third row stood up straight. They skillfully held the muskets horizontally, pulled the triggers and fired, and a neat burst of "bang bang bang" sounded.
Then, the three rows of soldiers retreated from both sides to the back of the camp and began to reload their ammunition skillfully. The soldiers in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rows came forward and, like the previous ones, one row squatted, one row bent over, and one row stood up straight, and they also held their muskets horizontally and fired forward.
After the fifth, sixth and seventh rows finished shooting, the first three rows of soldiers were almost done loading gunpowder, and after a few breaths, they stepped forward and fired again.
In this way, he fired several rounds in one breath without stopping...
Zhang Jing, Hu Zongxian and others on the high platform could not help but stare at the scene with their eyes wide open and their mouths open, shocked, unable to recover for a long time.