introduction
The ladder is one of the large-scale instruments that were very common in ancient warfare, and it is also recorded in the "Mozi Gong Losing": "The Gong Losing Disk is the weapon of the Chu Cloud Ladder, and it will attack the Song Dynasty." Therefore, it is widely believed that the ladder was invented by Lu Ban, who was a public loser.
In some costume dramas, there are often such war scenes: the soldier in charge of the attack carries the long ladder against the city wall, and then climbs up desperately, and the soldier in charge of defending the city attacks it with the weapon in his hand, or pushes the long ladder down with a fork-like tool. But on the real ancient siege battlefield, the defending generals will surely scoff: to push the ladder is also too stupid. Because in general, the ladders used in siege cities are not ordinary long ladders, but special ladders, and ladders are not so easy to be pushed down.
▲ Ancient ladder model
01
Ladders and trebuchets are the most commonly used large tools in siege warfare. Trebuchets are generally used for long-range attacks, and the ladder is pushed directly under the city wall, allowing soldiers to climb up and force the defenders with their flesh and blood. The inventor of the ladder is now unknown, and the most widely spread theory was invented by Lu Ban, a skillful craftsman in the Spring and Autumn Period.
But in fact, the ladder should have appeared earlier, its prototype is called "hook aid", which has already appeared during the Xia Shang Zhou. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu vigorously developed its own military, so it ordered the public transport plate to transform the cloud ladder. In addition to being used for siege warfare, the ancient ladder actually has another function. Xu Shen noted in the Huainanzi BingShu: "The ladder of clouds can stand on the clouds, so it is overlooked in the city of the enemy." This means that in fact, the ladder can also be used to stand on a high place to reconnoiter the enemy.
▲ Ancient siege scene
As early as the Warring States period, the ladder has been installed with a hook at the top, when the ladder was carried to the city wall by hand to rely on erection, the hook at the top of the ladder was used to hook the edge of the city wall, making it less easy to be pushed down. And at this time, the ladder has been installed with wheels, which can move quickly.
In the Tang Dynasty, the ladder was further improved, and the bottom of the ladder was made of wood as a lathe, and 6 wheels were placed under the car. The ladder body is not vertical, but is fixed to the chassis at a certain angle. More practical is to add a movable sub-ladder in addition to the main ladder, and install a pair of wheels that can slide at the top of the sub-ladder, so that the ladder can be moved up and down along the city wall when it is actually used. Because most of such ladders have been fixed, it greatly shortens the time required to build ladders in battle, which also reduces the danger of soldiers temporarily erecting ladders when facing the enemy. The design of the sub-ladder to move up and down can avoid premature contact with enemy forces, increase effective attacks, and reduce the chance of the ladder being destroyed by the defenders in advance.
02
The cloud ladder in the Song Dynasty was more advanced than that of the Tang Dynasty. The ladders of the Song Dynasty were not only divided into two sections, but also folded and connected in the middle with movable shafts. Moreover, the secondary ladder also appeared in more forms in the Song Dynasty, suitable for different battle scenes. Moreover, the ladder of the Song Dynasty also designed a shielding device at the bottom, which can make the soldiers pushing the ladder relatively safe.
There were many methods of siege warfare in ancient times, but each method was premised on a quick battle. If the siege is delayed for too long, the attacking side will inevitably suffer greater losses than the defenders. Therefore, when setting up the ladder, it must be fast and decisive, in addition to the relatively heavy ladder, there are simple ladders that can be used together.
▲Ancient siege image
During the Han Dynasty, the Han army attacked ZhizhiCheng, but the city was heavily defended, with a wooden city wall on the outside and an earthen city wall on the inside. At the beginning of the siege battle, the Han army first fired arrows with crossbows with archers, so that the defenders on the city wall had to retreat temporarily. At the same time, the Han army set fire to the wooden city wall, and immediately erected cloud ladders and flying ladders after approaching the earthen city wall, and the brave soldiers who were not afraid of death went up along the ladder and quickly attacked the inner city.
03
For the soldiers on the defending side, few people will try to tear down the ladder in battle. One reason is because the ladder is very heavy, it is difficult to overthrow with the strength of a few people, and the city walls cannot accommodate more people to push the ladder. Another reason is that there are faster ways to deal with ladders. Crossbowmen can shoot enemies from top to bottom, which is far more effective than pushing ladders.
▲ A small hole in the city wall
Usually we will see many small openings in the city walls, which are also used to prevent the enemy's ladder from going up. Defenders can kill enemies who go up the ladder through small holes, spears and spears, etc., or they can use thick wooden sticks to hold the ladder up and prevent them from approaching the city wall. In addition to the above methods, there is also a most effective way to deal with the ladder, which is to use fire. Ancient ladders are mostly wooden, pouring oil or other flammable substances from the city wall down, and then igniting the fire to burn the ladder of the siege side, even if some of the ladders are large and cannot be destroyed for a while, they can also effectively prevent the enemy from climbing up.
epilogue
In the era of cold weapons, every siege battle is extremely difficult for both the attacking and defending sides, in addition to the frontal confrontation between soldiers, there is also psychological suffering. And in general, the defender must have a higher advantage than the siege side. Therefore, the siege party constantly develops weapons such as trebuchets and ladders, only to increase the intensity and efficiency of the attack. Therefore, with the upgrading of modern weapons, defensive warfare has become more and more difficult, and there is no longer the miracle of ancient times that can be kept for a year and a half.
Resources:
"Mozi Gong Loses"
"Huainanzi Bing Strategy Training"