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| Drawing of a Lian Zhu Pao (right) and Yu Gu Pao (left), from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'. |
Lian Zhu Pao (連珠砲, lit. 'Rapid bead cannon') and Yu Gu Pao (漁皷砲, lit. 'Fisherman's drum cannon') were two types of lightweight cannons commonly used by Ming border armies of the strategically important San Bian (三邊, lit. 'Three borders') of Shaanxi Province, namely Gansu Defence Region (甘肅鎮), Yansui Defence Region (延綏鎮), Ningxia Defence Region (寧夏鎮), as well as the main headquarters, Guyuan Defence Region (固原鎮).
The two cannons were more or less identical, except for the lack of reinforcing hoops in Yu Gu Pao. Both cannons were around three chi in length, six fen in barrel thickness, and had a bore diameter of around one cun one fen (1.4 in / 35.2 mm). Designed to be carriable by just one person, these cannons could either launch a single one cun diameter lead cannonball at considerable distance using five to six liang of gunpowder, or loaded with additional lead or iron pellets for close range scatter shot.
These would have been hefty but manageable. Assuming the chi are ying zhao chi, a hollow cylinder of that length and thickness made of iron would be about 55 pounds. The cannon would be slightly heavier since one end would be closed, which would require additional iron, so a rough guesstimate would be maybe 60 pounds or so. A solid shot plus the powder to fire it would be just slightly over a pound per unit of ammunition (about 9.9 ounces for the shot and 6.5-7.8 for the powder).
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