tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post1038323104269210292..comments2024-03-27T07:41:27.083-07:00Comments on Great Ming Military: Shield formation of Luo Gong Chen (羅拱辰) — Part 1春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-29989353488317615932016-08-12T00:23:43.446-07:002016-08-12T00:23:43.446-07:00He did not mention any armour. Or rather, he menti...He did not mention any armour. Or rather, he mentioned the LACK of armour, and something about this formation helps to mitigate the disadvantage of having no armour.春秋戰國https://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-37586181003707551452016-08-11T23:24:13.702-07:002016-08-11T23:24:13.702-07:00Would armor have also been worn by these troops? Would armor have also been worn by these troops? HokutoAndyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07973421705975694971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-26422785902649490492016-08-04T05:51:50.550-07:002016-08-04T05:51:50.550-07:00Despite its usefulness, Lang Xian is still a defen...Despite its usefulness, Lang Xian is still a defensive weapon, and a bulky one at that. It works fine as long as you stay in an orderly formation and expect your enemy to charge at you. However it become more of a hindrance if you have to aggressively storm an enemy formation or position. 春秋戰國https://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-44496868595986828522016-08-04T03:56:54.183-07:002016-08-04T03:56:54.183-07:00Good day Clibanarium.
(Although the manual of Lan...Good day Clibanarium.<br /><br />(Although the manual of Lang Xian survived, and reconstructing its techniques should be relatively easy, no one actually test it out in a reenactment-like setting, so I can only answer you based on my own observation, which may or may not contain error)<br /><br />One of the major issues of this weapon is that poorly trained troops tend to discard it when they are routed, at that point Lang Xian become an obstacle that prevents other friendly troops from escaping.<br /><br />However, Lang Xian as a weapon is relatively simple to train. As it is a defensive weapon, all you have to do is to point it at the general direction of your enemy, and sweep/smash away their spears or swords if you feel like it. Maybe a thrust or two (it still has a spearhead after all).<br /><br />For other troops such as pikemen, working together with Lang Xian shouldn't be that hard. In fact, it should be no different from fighting side by side with another pikeman. The branches and leaves of Lang Xian are on the enemy side disrupting them, so they won't obstruct your movement.春秋戰國https://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-57148105910836858522016-08-04T02:58:21.090-07:002016-08-04T02:58:21.090-07:00Hi again. Couple of questions;
What was it that m...Hi again. Couple of questions;<br /><br />What was it that made the Lang Xian a potentially troublesome weapon?<br />Perhaps this is a wider question than this particular formation, but what's your view on the ability of troops to co-ordinate formations like this? By which I mean it seems to me that that they require a fair degree of training to get troops to work together to use these formations effectively. I have no doubt that if they were trained Ming soldiers were able to, but I wonder whether these drills were suitable for soldiers that were quickly assembled, say in response to coastal raids ?clibinariumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17123479198919917533noreply@blogger.com