During the Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty's Wukou Rebellion was already very serious. These Wokou were made up of Japanese samurai, ronin, and pirates. Because they are all outlaws, their combat effectiveness is particularly fierce. They often landed in Fujian and Zhejiang, burned and plundered, and did all kinds of evil, bringing heavy disasters to the people along the southeast coast. Most of the Ming armies failed in battle with the Wokou.
It was not until the emergence of Qi Jiguang that this situation was changed. The reason why he can achieve such achievements is related to having a well-trained "Qi Family Army". A large part of the reason why the "Qi family army" was able to defeat the Wokou was that it relied on the "Mandarin Duck Array".
Above_Qijiajun Mandarin Duck Array Model
The Mandarin Duck Array is a great masterpiece of ancient Chinese military wisdom and consists of twelve people. Simply put, the head of the queue is the captain and is responsible for command. The two men behind the captain are armed with shields and javelins, which are used to protect squad members and javelins to throw. The two men behind the shield holders are armed with wolf wagons to prevent enemies from rushing over. Behind the wolf soldiers were four spearmen, two on each side, as the main force of the attack. Behind the spearman were two soldiers, armed with boring palladium to protect the flanks, and the last one was a dude.
This is a very perfect battle sequence, and there are almost no shortcomings, so Qi Jiguang can not only achieve victory in the process of fighting against Wu Kou, but also suffer very few casualties. The "Mandarin Duck Array" makes good use of the advantages of each weapon and has both attack and defense. The weapons wolf and boring palladium were unique to the "Qi family army", and other armies in history were not used.
Above_ The war scene in the "New Three Kingdoms" drama
So, what are the weapons commonly used in ancient armies?
When it comes to weapons, the first thing that many people think of is the eighteen weapons. As early as the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was the saying "eighteen weapons". Specific to the army, eighteen weapons will not be fully equipped. On the battlefield, the more practical and effective the better.
The weapons used in the army are generally divided into: projectile weapons, fighting weapons, defensive weapons, and offensive and defensive equipment.
First, the main throwing weapons are bows and crossbows, stone throwers and cannons.
archery
Bows and arrows were produced relatively early in China, and there is a legend of the Houyi Shooting Sun in mythological stories. Archers are generally at the front of the line, and before engaging, let the archer shoot a bow and arrow to kill the opposing charging soldiers.
Later, people improved the bow and arrow, making it longer range and more lethal, called the crossbow, the most famous is probably the Zhuge Lian crossbow, which can fire ten arrows at a time, but unfortunately lost. There are also three-bow crossbows, which, when fired, resemble javelins and can penetrate the city walls.
Above_ Zhuge Quanshi in the Wu Bi Zhi
Trebuchet
It is mainly fired using the gravity of counterweights, which are used to attack cities and defend fortresses.
cannon
The cannon was more lethal than the trebuchet, and appeared on the occasion of the Song Liao. The Hongyi cannon, introduced to China in the late Ming Dynasty, was assigned to the army. When Yuan Chonghuan was guarding the far city of Ning, he was equipped with ten Hongyi cannons, and it is said that Nurhaci was killed by the cannons.
Above_ The Hongyi cannon of the Ming Dynasty was originally a model of the Dutch heavy breech
2. Fighting weapons
Fighting weapons, the most common in the army, are generally divided into long weapons and short weapons according to size. Common long weapons are guns, spears, hammers, hammers, halberds, etc., and short weapons include knives, swords, whips, hammers and so on.
gun
Guns, known as the "King of a Hundred Weapons", are dominated by thorns. In history, there were many famous generals who used guns as weapons, and in the fifth generation, the famous generals Li Cunxiao and Wang Yanzhang loved to use guns, and Wang Yanzhang was called "Wang Iron Gun".
There are also many marksmanship methods that have been handed down, the more famous one is the Yue family gun, which was created by the famous Southern Song Dynasty general Yue Fei. There is also the Yang family gun, which is said to have been created by Yang Miaozhen at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was known as the best marksmanship.
Above_ the names of the parts of the spear
spear
Spears are similar to guns, but simpler in construction. The spearhead is larger than the tip of the gun, the spear shaft is harder than the gun, made of stainless steel, and the gun is more dexterous and lightweight. Influenced by the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", many people think that Lü Bu's weapon is the Fang Tian Painting Blade, in fact, the weapon is not commonly used on the battlefield, and later it was only used as an honor guard, and Lü Bu's real weapon is actually a spear. The Later Han Shu Dong Zhuo Biography says: "Bu Yingsheng stabbed Zhuo with a spear, and the fun soldiers cut him off." ”
Above_Tang Dynasty ring hand knife
knife
Knives, known as the Marshal of a Hundred Soldiers, can be divided into long knives and short knives. It is mainly used for close combat and is widely used in the military. Li Gan, the son of the Western Han Dynasty general Li Guang, "held a long mallet on the left and a short knife on the right and a prancing horse in battle." When Yue Fei fought against The Finished Yan Wushu, he was the leg of the horse that was cut with a knife.
There are many types of knives, and the common ones in the army are waist knives and short knives. If a long handle is added under the blade, it becomes a simple knife. In "Water Margin", there are many descriptions of Pu Dao. In the Song Dynasty, most of the simple knives were used for agriculture, and it was not until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period that many people in the army used the simple knives. Historically, the weapon used by Guan Yu was not the Green Dragon Crescent Moon Knife, and at that time, it could not be manufactured.
Among the weapons, although the "sword" is more well-known and is known as the "king of a hundred soldiers", it is not practical on the battlefield, and it is not as good as a knife on cutting, and it is not as good as a gun on the stab. The sword is more often used as a ceremonial instrument or a symbol of status.
Above_ The Ming army marched against the sword and shield hands and spearmen in the front of the Ming army
3. Defensive weapons
Defensive weapons generally have shields and armor.
Shields, which are relatively hard, are used to defend against opposing bows and arrows and blades. When the enemy is shooting with a bow and arrow, it can be well protected by a shield. Shields are also often used in conjunction with weapons such as knives and guns, and can not only defend, but also attack.
Armor, used to protect soldiers and horses, is generally made of metal, but can also be made of rattan. Mingguang armor is considered the best armor, and the Tang Dynasty was the heyday of Mingguang armor.
Above_Song Dynasty siege ladder
4. Offensive and defensive weapons
It is mainly used when besieging and defending cities. Common weapons used in sieges include ladders, fenyun vehicles, crashes, trench bridges, crossbows, and trebuchets.
The cloud ladder is said to have been invented by Lu Ban. There are wheels underneath for easy driving, and the end of the ladder is equipped with a hook to help the wall head. Ladders can not only be used to climb the city wall, but also to climb high and look down on the enemy.
Crashes, by the force of the collision, are used to destroy the walls and gates.
Trench bridge, the ancients in order to defend the city, in order to dig a lot of trenches outside the city, and the role of the trench bridge is to pass through the trench and moat.
Above_Schematic of the ancient defenders using the "wolf's tooth beat"
The defensive weapons generally include wolf's tooth claps, transfer shooters, door knife carts, night forks, bed crossbows and so on.
Wolf's teeth clap, a boxy wooden or iron plate, nailed on one side of the dense nails, the siege soldiers came to the city wall, thrown down. The night fork is also similar to this.
The gate knife car, the weapon used to block the door when the city gate is breached.
The revolver can rotate and fire bows and arrows, and the flexibility is relatively large.
With the invention of gunpowder, artillery and muskets were gradually perfected, and their power became stronger and stronger, and they were slowly used in the army. Soldiers at the end of the Ming Dynasty were already equipped with fire bolts. With the use of firearms, cold weapons have slowly withdrawn from the stage of history.
Text: Ink feathers
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author