The development of china's ancient naval weapons, like the weapons and equipment of the army, has gone through two historical stages: cold weapons and hot weapons. Before the use of gunpowder and compass in water warfare and water warfare, although the entire naval weapon was continuously improved and improved, there was no fundamental change. At that time, the weapons used in water warfare and naval warfare were nothing more than "punching angles" and "hook refusals", spears, bows and arrows, or weapons such as catapults and projectiles, but at most they used bows and arrows to throw flammables and fire boats for fire attacks.
The Chibi water warfare at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty reflected the basic combat methods and combat methods of water warfare in this period in a more concentrated way. However, in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, especially during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, China's ancient naval weapons made obvious progress, and there was a very powerful ship-to-ship attack weapon "clapping pole". This weapon is tall, tied with boulders at the top, mounted on the bridges or decks of large ships, and if the enemy ship is hit, the wooden hull is often partially destroyed or broken and the ship is sunk. In fact, this is the development of the trebuchet, which can also be said to be the precursor of the naval gun.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the earliest battle in China to use smoke screens</h1>
However, before gunpowder was used in water armies and water warfare, in the transition stage from cold weapons to hot weapons, it was of outstanding significance to the development of China's ancient naval weapons, which was a smoke screen and oil arson.
Smoke screens are used in combat, and legend has been made since ancient times. "The clams can make a big fog, and the sergeant is unconscious", it seems that the "fog" referred to here is an artificial smoke screen. However, the earliest record in the historical records is in 589 AD, which is also more than a thousand years old.
After the Sui Emperor Yang Jian unified the north, he continued to march south. In 589 AD, the Sui army marched south, divided its troops into several ways to cross the river, and destroyed Chen in one fell swoop. The Sui general He Ruobi led an army across the river from Guangling (present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu), into Gujingkou (present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), and then to the Chen capital Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). The army encountered the Chen army at Baitugang near Zhongshan on the outskirts of the city, and the Chen general Lu Guangda led the army to resist desperately, and the Sui army was defeated and retreated four times, and the situation was urgent. At this time, He Ruobi "indulged in smoke to conceal himself", that is, cast a smoke screen to hide himself. Chen Jun thought that the Sui army had been defeated, so they asked Lord Chen for rewards with the heads of the Sui army's native soldiers. He Ruobi saw that Chen's army was in chaos, so he took the opportunity to lead his troops to counterattack, chen army collapsed, sui army was defeated into victory, and finally destroyed Chen.
In this battle, the key to the Sui army's defeat into victory was the use of smoke screens. This is also the earliest battle in our country to use smoke screens.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the earliest use of smoke screens in water warfare</h1>
The earliest use of smoke screens in water warfare was during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in the next three hundred years, when the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Five Dynasties appeared in the Yellow River Valley, known as the Five Dynasties. At the same time, there were also ten regimes in various parts of the south and Shanxi, collectively known as the Ten Kingdoms, and the entire period called the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During this period, the feudal separatist regimes in various places continued to provoke wars in order to expand their territory and plunder wealth, resulting in a long-term chaotic situation.
In March of the fifth year of Zhenming (919 AD), Qian Xuan, the king of Wuyue in the south, ordered Qian Chuanhuan to be the commander of all the armies in the water war, and led 500 warships to attack the state of Wu, whose capital was established in present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, and Wu sent Peng Yanzhang and Chen Fen to lead the water army to meet the battle. In April, the two fleets met and fought fiercely at the Wolf Mountain River (on the surface of the Wolf Mountain near present-day Nantong, Jiangsu).
Before the battle, the Wuyue fleet made careful preparations and ordered the ships to load ash, beans and sand for backup. At the beginning of the water battle, the Wu fleet was eager to fight, and attacked first with the wind, while the Wuyue fleet avoided its frontal impact, circled its side, and followed closely after the Wu fleet passed. Peng Yanzhang saw that the attack was unsuccessful, so he turned the bow of the ship and continued to attack against the wind, while Qian Chuanwan had cleverly occupied a favorable attack position at this time, so he took advantage of the gray of the wind field, and then took advantage of the opportunity that "the Wu people could not open their eyes" to quickly force the enemy ship to launch a pick-up battle. Wu Yue's fleet sprinkled sand on the ships and sprinkled beans on the enemy ships, and Wu Sailors stepped on the blood-soaked beans, stood unsteadily, fell down one after another, and the fleet lineup was in chaos. The Wuyue fleet seized the opportunity to take advantage of the victory and set fire to the Wu ships, the Wu army was defeated, the admiral Peng Yanzhang was wounded dozens of times, and finally committed suicide, and the Wu fleet was completely destroyed.
In this battle of the Wolf Mountain River, due to chuan's careful deployment and proper command, chuanhuan first retreated a step, turned disadvantage into advantage, occupied a favorable attack position with a favorable wind, and then used the smoke screen at the right time, the result was "the day is like fog, Wu Shi fan fang", Wu Yue fleet took advantage of the victory of the arson assault, won a complete victory, captured four hundred warships, captured 70 general Wu colonels, and beheaded more than a thousand people, this is china's earliest use of smoke screen water warfare, but also one of the outstanding combat examples in the history of China's water warfare.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, China is the first country in the world to use smoke screens for combat</h1>
In his book Chemical Warfare Agent, the American Prettis mentioned that the first person to use the smoke screen was King Charles XII of Sweden. In 1700, when Charles XII led his army to cross the Duvenna River, he used the smoke screen of wet straw as a cover to successfully cross the crossing. Pretis commented: "However, such early fortuitous results do not prove definitively that the use of smokescreens is a militaryly accepted strategy. ”
However, in 589 AD, He Ruobi's use of the smoke screen in battle was by no means an "accidental result", but an active and conscious "smoke to conceal himself", and in fact the smoke screen was used as an effective method of warfare to conceal himself and turn disadvantage into advantage. If the fortuitous circumstances of King Charles XII of Sweden are taken as the beginning of the use of smoke screens, then the use of smoke screens in our country is more than 1,100 years earlier than that, and the earliest use of smoke screens in water warfare is also 780 years earlier. Therefore, it is entirely reasonable to say that it was our country that was the first in the world to use smoke screens in combat and fleet formation attacks.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, fire attack is one of the advantages of China's ancient naval tactics</h1>
Arson is an ancient naval warfare, a method of warfare often used in water warfare, in the early days it was conventional arson using plants and oils such as wood, and later developed into arson using chemicals such as minerals and petroleum. China's naval weapons and equipment have undergone a long process from general conventional arson to the use of oil for arson.
Arson, or fire attack, is one of the most commonly used methods of warfare in warfare. Not only in ancient times, but also in modern warfare, arson still occupies an important position. China's famous ancient military science monograph "Sun Tzu's Art of War" has specifically discussed "fire attack," and famous examples of battles throughout the ages, such as the "Fire Bull Array" in the Battle of Qi Yan in the Warring States Period, the "Chibi Water Battle" in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Battle of Yiling" in the Three Kingdoms Period, the "Yangtze River Water Battle" in the early Western Jin Dynasty, the "Battle of Baijiangkou In the Tang Dynasty," the "Yellow Sea Rushing Battle" commanded by Li Bao in the Song Dynasty, the "Poyang Lake Water Battle" in which Zhu Yuanzhang attacked chen Youyi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the naval battle in which Zheng successfully recovered Taiwan, all correctly applied the method of fire attack warfare and thus won victory.
It can be seen from this that fire attack or arson is not only one of the characteristics of China's ancient war history and the history of ancient water warfare and naval warfare, but also one of the advantages of China's ancient naval tactics.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >5. Oil is used as an arson agent in water warfare</h1>
As early as the Han Dynasty, China already had records about oil. In the Later Liang period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, China called it "fertile oil" and understood some of the properties of oil, such as "fire in the water, it can be burned", "fierce fire oil", "burning fire and burning, the enemy is fertile with water, the fire is more and more blazing", etc., and it is clearly known that oil can be used in naval warfare to "burn enemy ships".
According to Chinese literature, the earliest use of oil (that is, "fertile oil") as an arson agent in battle was when the late Liang Emperor took the throne during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, that is, in 913 AD. At that time, the Later Liang general Li Ba led an army of a thousand men to garrison Liu Yang (劉陽, in present-day Dong'abei, Shandong), and at night, he rebelled and broke through the city's water gate, "tied the oil of Buwo with a long pole", and burned the city's Jianguo Gate. This is the earliest record of the use of oil as an arson agent for combat.
The earliest use of oil as an arson agent for water warfare was the Liang Jin Desheng Water Battle in the following six years, the fifth year of the Later Liang Zhenming (919 AD). In April, the Later Liang general He Ou led an army to besiege pude sheng nancheng (present-day Puyang, Henan, the southern city is in the south of the county five miles), and with bamboo ropes to connect more than ten warships, the ship was covered with cowhide to build a female wall-like battlement, set up a strong water fortress to prevent the rescue of the Jin army, the King of Jin Li Cunxun personally led the troops, lined up on the north bank, blocked and difficult to cross the river to break the siege, at this time the defending Jin army was already "near the stone, trapped in an instant", the situation is very critical, obviously can not break the water fortress set up by the rear liang, It became the key to the jin army's defensive forces.
At this time, Li Cunxun's troops stepped forward and took the initiative to ask for battle. He selected three hundred brave soldiers, clad in armor and wielding sharp axes, personally led by a battleship assault. When approaching the Sternwheeler warship, the arrows of the Rear Liang Water Army rained down, and Li Jianhe and Fenfen disregarded their bodies to command the soldiers to risk death to burst into the opposing fleet, wield sharp axes, cut bamboo ropes, and at the same time, with "wooden poppies carrying salaries, fertile oil and burning fire", from upstream, burning the Rear Liang warships. Then a large warship carrying soldiers "rode on smoke and clamored" to launch a general attack.
The bamboo rope used to connect the battleships in the Houliang water fortress was cut off, the battleship was attacked by oil arson, "the smoke and flames of the whiskers" and "the fire was in the air", and then it was attacked by the Jin fleet, the sailors were burned to death and drowned more than half, the water fortress was breached, and the Jin army was able to cross the river. The Jin general Li Jianhe used oil to set fire to the Liang general He Ou after a major defeat, and rescued the besieged city, and the Jin army turned defeat into victory.
However, in the first year of Tongguang (923 AD), Later Liang finally captured the southern city of Desheng and took advantage of the victory to advance east to attack Yang Liu. Yang Liu lined the river, and Hou Liang blocked the ferry port with giant ships, cutting off the jin army's grain, weapons and other logistical supplies. The Jin general Li Zhou hurriedly sent people to li Cunxun, the king of Jin, for help, and asked him to rush to the aid at the speed of a daily 100-mile march. As a result, reinforcements arrived, Li Zhou had been starving of food for three days, Li Cunxun took decisive measures, piled up timber with huge rafts, poured "fertile oil", and "set fire to Liang ships downstream" from upstream, and Liang Fleet was forced to retreat and lifted the siege of Yang Liu. The Jin army once again used oil to set fire to the water battle, and once again won the victory.
Because oil has the characteristics of low ignition point, strong fire, rapid spread, and difficult to extinguish, it has become an effective weapon to break the enemy and burn ships in battle. China used it for siege as early as 913 AD, and it was used in water warfare in 913 AD, which is obviously a major development of China's weapons and equipment, especially naval weapons and equipment.
To sum up, it can be seen that china has successfully used smoke screens and oil to set fire to land and water warfare as early as a thousand years ago, which is not only a great contribution of our people to the history of the development of ancient weapons in the world, but also promotes the change and innovation of China's ancient land and water combat methods.