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| Tiger (top) and Qilin (bottom) Mu Huo Shou, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
Mu Huo Shou (木火獸, lit. 'Wooden fire beast') was one of the weirder weapons of the Ming Dynasty, being a wooden pushcart with paper model of an animal—typically a tiger or
qilin—mounted on top. The paper animal was treated with fire retardant (i.e. potassium alum), and a flame throwing bamboo
Peng Tong (噴筒) and two smoke dispensers were hidden inside the "mouth" and "eyes" of the paper animal respectively. When the weapons were ignited, the pushcart looked like a terrifying fire-breathing monster from afar, since the soldier pushing the cart would be obscured by all the smoke and fire.
Although the pushcart was also armed with four
handgonnes, it was primarily designed to cause panic and chaos. In essence, Mu Huo Shou was a more controllable version of the famous
fire oxen tactic.
Interesting. I wonder how they would have used it in actual battles.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you can just send a bunch of them charging at the enemy.
DeleteImagine seeing what appears to be tigers and dragons, all lined up in front of men, who then proceed to spit fire towards you. Forget the actual damage, the sheer shock and awe this would create is enough of a weapon.
DeleteI think this type of weapon is only useful in certain circumstances. If the enemy has muskets and cannons, then they would make short work of those wooden fire beasts.
Delete@The Xanian
DeleteYes, but most of Ming's enemies didn't have that kind of firepower.