Chapter 172: Beneficial to Water and Fire
Afterwards, Zhou Xu changed his weapon to a crescent halberd and used it to stab the rattan armor.
Because of the different nature of the attack, the gap left by the stabbing was deeper than the cut left by the slashing, but it still failed to pierce the vine armor.
In this primitive age, I believe that the primitive people in those tribes were basically still using bone and stone weapons, and the threat posed to them could be said to have been reduced to the lowest level.
Next, there is only one last test left...
"Go get a torch."
"yes!"
With a response, the tribe member trotted over to get a torch for Zhou Xu.
Taking the torch, Zhou Xu lit the fire directly at the rattan breastplate without saying a word.
I believe many people have heard the story of burning the rattan armor soldiers, and Zhou Xu is no exception.
The name of this story clearly exposes the weakness of the rattan armor.
Of course, even so, Zhou Xu still wanted to give it a try. For him, practice is the only criterion for testing the truth!
In this simple test, Zhou Xu quickly discovered that under the burning flames, the rattan breastplate was not immediately ignited.
He even held a torch and burned the vine armor back and forth several times, but nothing happened.
Faced with this situation, Zhou Xu raised his brows slightly. Obviously, the facts were different from his expectations.
But Zhou Xu didn't think too much and directly changed the method of fire attack.
The moving fire could not burn the rattan armor, so he simply held the torch and burned it in one place.
In this state, after burning for more than ten to twenty seconds, the rattan armor began to emit black smoke. It actually ignited after burning in one place for more than half a minute.
Under this premise, the flame was extinguished as soon as it was put out, making Zhou Xu's expression extremely subtle at this moment.
[Is there something wrong with my processing method, so the material characteristics are different from the original rattan armor? 】
But what Zhou Xu didn't know at that time was that the burning of the rattan armor soldiers was just a story in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a novel, not history! The stories in this novel are artistically processed, the most typical of which is the empty city plan. In reality, a round of arrow rain can directly shoot Zhuge Liang into a hedgehog, and it certainly cannot be regarded as official history.
Under this premise, there is a record of rattan armor in books of the Ming Dynasty, which describes it as "light and strong, able to block arrows and blades, and good at withstanding water and fire. The rattan can also be used as a hat, a helmet when facing the enemy, and as a shield when in the shade."
This book clearly states that it is good for water and fire! Of course, when he continued to burn the rattan armor with a torch, the rattan armor was indeed set on fire.
But the problem is that in a battle, continuous burning is like being roasted in the fire all the time.
In this situation, would it be better if you changed into iron armor? Indeed, iron cannot be ignited under normal circumstances, but the temperature of the iron armor continues to rise, just like a red-hot iron, and if you are wrapped in it, your fate will be even worse.
"Practice is indeed the only criterion for testing truth!"
This test result made Zhou Xu very happy.
As it stands, this rattan armor is more than enough to defend against copper weapons. Its biggest weakness is probably that it is difficult to make and the processing takes too much time.
Zhou Xu was very clear about this issue at the very beginning.
So when he first started processing the rattan, he got the full amount in one go.
Judging from the current consumption alone, it is more than enough to arm all the soldiers in their tribe.
After successfully completing the test, the production of rattan armor was fully launched.
As for Zhou Xu, after the second sword was polished, he began to test the durability of the sword.
This kind of weapon, when used in fighting on the battlefield, is bound to collide with the enemy's weapons.
They must first confirm the extent to which their own weapons can be used.
"You two each take a sword and simulate a fight. Chop each other's swords. Repeat this process, one by one. Let's begin."
The test was not complicated, and the result came faster than Zhou Xu had expected. When the sword chopped for the ninth time, there was a slight sound, and a piece of the blade was cut off and flew out on the spot. The sword actually broke directly!
This situation caught Zhou Xu off guard, and he quickly asked someone to bring both swords, including the section of the blade that had been chopped off.
There was nothing much to say about the sword that had been completely broken, but as for the one that had not been broken, obvious cracks could be seen on the blade, and there were many cracks on the blade, making it much more brittle than he had expected.
[It seems that this sword is not tough enough. ]
Just like diamond is said to be the hardest stone in the world, but it can be easily broken, the key factor is toughness! [However, this situation did not occur on the previous crescent halberd. 】
With this idea in mind, Zhou Xu signaled his subordinates to fetch two crescent halberds for comparison.
The crescent halberd has undoubtedly undergone the same collision and slashing test, and its performance is much better than that of the sword.
The same material, the same forging method, but showing completely different strengths.
What is the root cause of this situation? As a modern person, Zhou Xu quickly realized the problem after opening his mind.
"Length! It's the length of the weapon!"
When the material and forging method are the same, the longer the length, the higher the toughness requirement. If the toughness is insufficient, it will easily break.
The crescent halberd is not so easy to break because its metal part is less than half of the sword! Following this idea, if you want to improve the durability of the sword and make it less easy to break, the easiest way is to directly reduce the length of the sword.
As for how much it will be reduced, it depends on the length of the enemy's weapon.
Combined with the intelligence sent back from the barren mountain camp from time to time, the most commonly used melee weapon of the primitive tribe there is the stone axe.
After all, the primitive people on the opposite side are not stupid. Weapons such as spears are not easy to use in the mountains and forests. As long as they have used them, they will quickly come to this conclusion.
Under this premise, due to the limitations of technology and materials, the stone axes of primitive tribes were all made relatively short, with a total length of about 30 centimeters.
In this way, Zhou Xu only needs to ensure that the sword is thirty-five to forty centimeters long, so that their soldiers can ensure an advantage in the attack distance in close combat.
When the sword was being tested, the director of the forging department was standing next to him. Zhou Xu directly told him the conclusion and asked him to make a new mold.
After receiving the order, the director of the forging department returned to the department with a broken sword in a bad mood. This time, he was really embarrassed.
"All forging and polishing of swords must be stopped. This batch of swords cannot be used. Melt them all down and recast them!"
Fortunately, the materials were not wasted. However, all the work done in this part was in vain, causing wailing in the forging department...
(End of this chapter)
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