If you ask which is the highest standard and most penetrating bow and arrow in Chinese history? The answer is likely to be the "Heavenly Strategy Admiral Great Arrow" used by Tang Taizong Li Shimin. The Book of Tang records: "Emperor Taizong begs Liu Heimin. Min often lined up in Feixiang, and Emperor Taizong personally led the left and right attacks. There was a sudden general, brave and brave, straight to Taizong, the blade will be connected, Taizong will shoot a large arrow with a heavenly strategy, the center of the hole, and the string will be killed. So this arrow was passed on to the north. The Turks marveled at the sight. He often rode out lightly, and when he encountered a brave and famous person among the three thieves, he raised his gun and marched forward. Left and right, please avoid it, Taizong does not follow, wait for it to come, fire three arrows in a row, and kill each other. The enemy was intimidated. ”
▲Portrait of Li Shimin
So, what should the Heavenly Strategy Admiral's big arrow look like in this article? The Tiance Admiral's large arrow is literally a huge size arrow, and most of the bows and arrows in the Qin and Han Dynasties were only about 72 centimeters long, which was equivalent to the length of crossbow arrows. Moreover, after the compound bow of the Han Dynasty removed the bow string, although the overall forward revolt of the bow, the degree of regurgitation was not large. This kind of bow shape with little recursion cannot withstand too much deformation, and the efficiency is also very poor. After the two Jin Dynasties, the nomadic culture in the north began to have a greater impact on the Central Plains, and the Tang Dynasty can be said to be "Hu Feng fierce". Moreover, the Tang Dynasty army attached great importance to bows and arrows, and the history books recorded that the Tang Dynasty army "had one bow and thirty arrows."
▲ Li Shimin played by Zhang Fengyi in "The Legend of Wu Meiniang"
Tang Taizong Li Shimin especially loved bows and arrows, and his bows and arrows were unparalleled in the world, and it was said that his four large arrows could shoot through the door panels. The Tang Dynasty also pioneered the martial arts system for the first time, and archery was a compulsory subject of martial arts. At present, the Tang Dynasty bow in China has only been excavated at the site of the ancient city of Gaochang in Xinjiang, and the total length of this bow is 80.5 cm when it is not wound, the bow is very curved, the bow tip is curved, and a string pad appears. The string pad is a small device set on the upper and lower bow arms, the appearance is ring-shaped, used to pass the bow string through the ring, playing the role of positioning and protecting the bow string. The bow of this bow is no longer rectangular, but approximately "ovate", which as a whole is very similar to the later Central Asian Turkic bows. Coincidentally, in 1957, a stone depiction of the King of Vishamen was excavated at the site of the Tang Taiji Palace in Xi'an, and the bow being wound in the hands of the Heavenly King was very similar to the shape of this bow.
▲ Han Dynasty bow with relatively small anti-curvature
After the traditional bow has a larger reverse bend, it can achieve greater deformation, the efficiency can also be increased a lot, and the lethality can be doubled. If Li Shimin uses such a high-pound strong bow, he can completely achieve the center hole back. Du Fu's "Former Plugging" of the Tang Dynasty has such a sentence: "The bow should be strong, and the arrow should be used as long", indicating that the concept of a strong bow and a giant arrow has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at this time. Presumably, Li Shimin should use a strong bow with a large reverse curve. And the Tiance Great Arrow must be a long and heavy giant arrow. The Tang Dynasty attached great importance to cavalry, and Li Shimin often rode lightly to break through the formation.
Then let's take a look at the ancient Korea (deeply influenced by the Mongolian Yuan), which also attached importance to cavalry, which was also a shorter bow, a large recursive war bow, and the surviving arrows were obviously very large from the perspective of body size, and the prismatic arrows used were also very suitable for breaking armor. And the existing Korean bow saw is also amazing, the petite small bow can also be pulled by the archer to the back of the head, to achieve a nearly 90 cm long saw, the high efficiency of this bow is also very famous in modern times.
Speaking of this, it should be noted that the high-pound bow is very lethal to the human body. In the experiment of modern bow friends, the 40-pound bow at a distance of 8 to 15 meters (common range for riding and shooting), is almost always penetrating to the human body. Ancient large-scale war bows, penetration will only be stronger. However, Li Shimin shot a general or a warrior in the army. These people must be heavily armored knights, so to shoot through such a target, the armor-breaking ability of the arrow is required.
Taking the Qing Dynasty bow and arrow as an example, the Qing Dynasty bow is also famous for its larger saw and strong bow and giant arrow. Their mainstream plutonium arrows are wide and thin. The blade is as large as a knife, suitable for light protection targets, causing large wounds, but not conducive to breaking armor. However, the "Imperial Ritual Instrument Schema" records a kind of plum needle arrow used to break armor, which is also very much in line with the concept of the Tiance Great Arrow.
▲ Large feathers
▲Contrast between prismatic arrows and wide arrows
However, at this time it was already the age of firearms, and this kind of arrow was mainly used to break the lock armor and cotton armor. Since the Tiance Arrow is used to break heavier armor, its arrows should be smaller and less sharp-looking chisel-like prismatic arrows. (The armor-piercing arrows in European crossbows are also mostly chiseled arrows that don't look so sharp.) To sum up, admiral Tiance's big arrow should be a high-level armor-piercing arrow that is long and heavy, with huge feathers and is equipped with prismatic arrows.
▲Admiral Tiance's big arrow may look like this
This article is the original manuscript of the Cold Weapons Research Institute. The original outline of the editor-in-chief and the author Wang Dou shall not be reproduced by any media or public account without written authorization, and the offender will be investigated for legal responsibility.