Editor's note: Before the Cold Weapons Research Institute, through "Yu Dayu's team is coming!" Illustration of the weapons and equipment of the Ming Dynasty's Southern Army in the "Wokou Tu Scroll" and "What kind of elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty encountered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi?" The two articles on the Northern Army of the Ming Dynasty from the "Pingfan Victory Map" introduce the relevant situation of the Southern army and the Northern Army of the Ming Dynasty, but the paintings cited in the article are all from the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The artistic image of the Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty was relatively scarce. At present, only the water and land murals of Baoning Temple in Shanxi provide a part of the reference to a certain extent. Although the mural is a religious painting, it also reflects part of the reality. However, due to the "weird" painting style of Ming Dynasty Chinese painting, its artistic image needs to be reinterpreted. For example, some netizens once complained that one of the ming army images was painted wearing "silk stockings". What the hell is going on here? How did ancient Chinese soldiers save their lives and be flexible in the issue of armor? Although there is no perfect approach, it is still possible to take care of it to a certain extent. The Ming soldier who was jokingly called wearing "silk stockings" in the land and water paintings actually solved this problem.
▲ Boryeong Temple mural, the soldier on the far left is jokingly called wearing "stockings"
Although there was no plate armor in ancient China, there was a lock armor. As a kind of soft armor, the lock armor is relatively flexible, although the anti-puncture function is lacking, it is weak against blunt objects, but it can prevent knife slashing. Although the armor can rely on the thickness of the nail plate to increase defense, it is not flexible. Therefore, soldiers from all over the world have the practice of mixing, and the Same is true of the Ming army in the picture. Let's start with the soldier's recovery. The soldier was wearing a turban. It was common for soldiers in ancient China to wear headscarves, and in addition to the army, it was also very common for civilians. Regarding the explanation of the turban, the "Three Talents Picture Society" records it as follows: "Wrapping the head with a ruler, and embellishing the back of the piece, the end of which droops, is commonly known as 'tying the scarf'." Knotted towels are quite similar. ”
For example, the Ming soldiers in the "Wokou Tu Scroll" wear turbans. From other references, the turban should be dark red. In addition to the headscarf there is a scarf, which is also red. Many soldiers in ancient paintings wear scarves, and the new version of the "Water Margin" TV series has restored this.
Then there was the clothes, and the soldier's clothes were thick, like a cotton jacket. This kind of cotton jacket-like clothing is also called a war jacket, which is knee-length, narrow sleeves, and cotton inside, which provides cushioning by the soft characteristics of cotton. Moreover, if there is no fat jacket as an inner lining, wearing iron armor will be panicked. On the outside of the cotton jacket is the iron armor. The Tiezha armor of the early Ming Dynasty still has the legacy of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The joint of the shoulders of the armor was blocked by a scarf, and the soldier tied a cloth belt at the chest to secure it, and it could be seen from the soldier's waist that the armor was obviously divided into two pieces. It is still similar to the old two-stage armor, which is very different from the later placket style.
In addition to tying a cloth belt at the chest to facilitate the fixing of the armor, the soldier also had a belt and cloth belt around his waist. The belt is decorated with a mortise and copper sheet. The color reference of the belt should be tan in reference to the "Painting of the Ages of The Armor". The cloth belt around the waist is more common in the portraits of other soldiers of the Ming Army. Tying armor bands on the chest and waist is conducive to fixing the armor, after all, the armor is very heavy, and if it is not fixed, it will affect the action.
Then we look at the arm, and from the pattern, it seems that the lock nail is suspected. In addition to the arms, the armor of the legs is more pronounced. Because there are obvious strapping marks on the knees and pants cuffs, it means that this is soft armor rather than hard armor. In traditional Chinese armor, the protection of the lower body generally relies on the armor skirt to complete, and this armor pants, which is jokingly called "silk stockings", is rare. In terms of protective area, this "stocking" protects most of the thighs to the calves. Theoretically, the armor pants should have two armor belts on the cuffs, which are both firm and flexible.
▲Leg armor (painter: TIAN)
Speaking of which, we have to talk about China's lock armor. It is also known as ring lock armor. The reason why it is called this is because this kind of armor is connected by iron rings. In terms of connection, it is a female ring connecting four sub-rings. About the protective ability of the lock armor: The Book of Jin records that "the armor is like a ring lock, and it is impossible to shoot in." It shows that the lock armor defense ability is good, but there is a thing to pay attention to in the recovery of the lock armor. That is, when many people restore the lock armor, most of the connection methods are docked, including the book "Painting the Chinese Dynasties of Armor" or docking. But the butt lock armor is basically anti-slashing and not anti-stabbing. Because of the docking chainmail, it is often propped open by arrows, so that it can only resist the toy wooden crossbow and small pound bow. And the truly reliable lock armor is riveted. This riveted one has a safe distance of 30 meters in the face of a 60-pound bow. Since the history books record that it is difficult for soldiers wearing chainmail to be shot, it can be determined that the actual combat lock armor is not a docking like a keychain, but riveted with rivets.
▲Lock armor structure diagram
▲Schematic diagram of the restoration of the lock armor in this article (painter: TIAN)
▲Final restoration (?Painter: TIAN)
▲Ming soldiers
In short, the image of the Ming army in this land and water painting is as shown in the picture. It should be noted that its image is very similar to the Ming Dynasty Southern Army in the later "Anti-Wu Tu Scroll". But the equipment is better because the prototype of this soldier is the guard of the person on the combat chair, and there are people leading horses next to it that resemble pro-soldiers, so the protective equipment is naturally better. At present, the relevant archaeological evidence of this kind of Chinese armor and lock armor is still relatively small, and the artistic evidence that has been preserved in such a strange painting style is really difficult enough for recovery enthusiasts...
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