tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17764825473576585912024-03-18T02:47:38.876-07:00Great Ming Military春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.comBlogger322125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-44853773475686905592024-02-29T08:00:00.000-08:002024-02-29T08:00:00.244-08:00Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng (鉛彈一窩蜂)<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng (鉛彈一窩蜂)</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FG3ulaH3g_JdJ2f1ryA3yMJsknAW3Ny0RSajAhgdo-ffMXxb7LaH26iOcZFeoIKSKDAdrLGyQ_RFeAT032RUbs_x71Iwf9rfmWHgi6REQxYcbrp0fTO_fppJjxBQbDooU539vxcmpXRdTDbgRoapQVdP08G91LewzPOsdA7TsRJaAxXtQ95j3m9jUIs/s2526/lead_bullet_nest_of_bees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2526" data-original-width="1679" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8FG3ulaH3g_JdJ2f1ryA3yMJsknAW3Ny0RSajAhgdo-ffMXxb7LaH26iOcZFeoIKSKDAdrLGyQ_RFeAT032RUbs_x71Iwf9rfmWHgi6REQxYcbrp0fTO_fppJjxBQbDooU539vxcmpXRdTDbgRoapQVdP08G91LewzPOsdA7TsRJaAxXtQ95j3m9jUIs/w426-h640/lead_bullet_nest_of_bees.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng in shoulder bag for transportation (top right), and the same cannon when deployed (top bottom), from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng is a portable anti-personnel cannon that entered Ming arsenal in the early to mid-sixteenth century. Forged with the same method as a matchlock gun barrel, Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng has a short but wide body that can be loaded with up to 100 lead bullets, yet is light enough to be carried by a single person. It also comes with a small iron bipod, which is used to prop up the muzzle when the cannon is staked to the ground for firing, as it has little to no extra weight to offset its considerable recoil.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Qian Dan Yi Wo Feng is also known as <b>Bai Zi Chong</b> (百子銃, lit. 'Hundred bullets gun'), although it should not to be confused with <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/11/bai-zi-chong.html" target="_blank">another weapon of the same name</a></b>. It may also be the predecessor of <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/06/hu-dun-pao.html" target="_blank">Hu Dun Pao (虎蹲砲)</a></b>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><h4 style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Volley gun version</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbf98RvSkaWTyIOklZtoTamrw8sRjP9AcOdWkXw3pYZNqgPfLzYr1pqrB8KZHB7fLnFrFJKOxUGaH2WkiPlJlqvmTkT-zMMjmMDFh2Z5zkPZL6JdJX-0nWn076PguEJj_loGeYivPJmd3QVy5zwWJG7MHP7h88iqdU4fv65M4ANBuwX9pPq-bAWnDN3Q/s2649/matchlock_nest_of_bees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2649" data-original-width="1637" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinbf98RvSkaWTyIOklZtoTamrw8sRjP9AcOdWkXw3pYZNqgPfLzYr1pqrB8KZHB7fLnFrFJKOxUGaH2WkiPlJlqvmTkT-zMMjmMDFh2Z5zkPZL6JdJX-0nWn076PguEJj_loGeYivPJmd3QVy5zwWJG7MHP7h88iqdU4fv65M4ANBuwX9pPq-bAWnDN3Q/w396-h640/matchlock_nest_of_bees.jpg" width="396" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a matchlock volley gun Yi Wo Feng, from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This version of Yi Wo Feng, though still called by the same name, is only inspired by but not directly related to the anti-personnel cannon above. It is actually a matchlock volley gun consists of four to six gun barrels recycled from damaged matchlock guns, modified and bundled together and mounted on a wooden receiver that also houses a matchlock mechanism and a handle bar. The volley gun is mounted on a tripod-like gun mount that allows the gun to be freely traversed and elevated, and each of its gun barrels is loaded with four lead bullets.</div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-38741471468819058952024-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:002024-02-01T08:00:00.137-08:00Tian Bing Jian (天兵箭)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-MuHcMPoK_1HmBEPZKFF0uH0CsEnNyCozOPB6NrpT3EJcN1b-eiCCedGxawKMH8C7fSmMp-axy3G63wBjFAgaBaCiFWybEPdM6wujtOQ7atg3Q8SLHirSXARO9oJ9X9SpQ0URe4ibuMuQlRvxjW6EMynMKQk7yFADnhRJdYZf6ynAswv5Z66hYLyD8Y/s1290/heavenly_soldier_arrow.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1290" data-original-width="956" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-MuHcMPoK_1HmBEPZKFF0uH0CsEnNyCozOPB6NrpT3EJcN1b-eiCCedGxawKMH8C7fSmMp-axy3G63wBjFAgaBaCiFWybEPdM6wujtOQ7atg3Q8SLHirSXARO9oJ9X9SpQ0URe4ibuMuQlRvxjW6EMynMKQk7yFADnhRJdYZf6ynAswv5Z66hYLyD8Y/w474-h640/heavenly_soldier_arrow.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Tian Bing Jian, from a Qing Dynasty print of 'Huo Long Jing (《火龍經》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><b>Tian Bing Jian</b> (天兵箭, lit. 'Heavenly soldier arrow') is perhaps one of the most ingenious weapons ever devised before the modern era. It is essentially a huge <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/12/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-fang-ji.html" target="_blank">war kite</a></b>, seven to eight <i>chi</i> long and three to four <i>chi</i> wide and made of straw mat nailed to a wooden frame, which carries a rocket pod containing one hundred <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/09/rocket-weaponry-of-ming-dynasty-p1.html">rocket arrows</a></b> as well as dozens of bombs. Specifically designed for night raid, the rocket pod and bombs on the kite are ignited by a slow-burning incense fuse that gives off minimal light, allowing ample time for the kite to be guided to its target in complete darkness and silence before it begins to rain down fire and chaos, creating a scene that can be easily mistaken for divine judgement (hence its namesake).</div><div><br /></div><div>A variant of the kite, known as <b>Tian Lei Pao</b> (天雷砲, lit. 'Heavenly thunder bomb'), replaces the rocket pod with a human bombardier. who is a death row convict being forcibly tied to the kite.</div><p></p>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-21877733600456396902024-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:002024-01-31T08:00:00.255-08:00Qiang Chong (鎗銃)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL3x6j-UjEDa7G9t9PwZ5euS8Iy9r1ZaayhlCrvlcLeyi4fNG5cy7zZabmt8HCGfs8amTMQfuzGubPV_F05vbqvuZduiHX_1zgvqXmfEDJHsvP4LIagwzoxcMivTm0670qaRvpcynQJPUm8JZSjwZjAM5iTBrwBF9jkS43IMMZXII7MZxbiEI2ogWvzNM/s2542/gun-spear.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2542" data-original-width="1653" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL3x6j-UjEDa7G9t9PwZ5euS8Iy9r1ZaayhlCrvlcLeyi4fNG5cy7zZabmt8HCGfs8amTMQfuzGubPV_F05vbqvuZduiHX_1zgvqXmfEDJHsvP4LIagwzoxcMivTm0670qaRvpcynQJPUm8JZSjwZjAM5iTBrwBF9jkS43IMMZXII7MZxbiEI2ogWvzNM/w416-h640/gun-spear.jpg" width="416" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Qiang Chong and its ramrod, from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a name='more'></a><b>
Qiang Chong</b> (鎗銃, lit. 'Gun spear') is, as its name suggests, a combination of a spear and a gun. It consists of a two <i>chi</i> long gun barrel mounted on a five <i>chi</i> long spear shaft, with two five <i>cun</i> long spearheads (or possibly one spearhead forged in two halves) mounted near the muzzle, as well as a two <i>cun</i> long butt spike mounted on the rear end of the spear shaft. The gun part of Qiang Chong has a three <i>fen</i> calibre, and is typically loaded with two maces five candareens of gunpowder as well as a one mace six candareens lead bullet (which is roughly half the weight of a typical Ming arquebus bullet). <div><br /></div><div>Unusually among <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/06/fei-tian-shen-huo-du-long-qiang.html" target="_blank">many</a></b> <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2019/05/shen-ji-wan-sheng-huo-long-dao.html" target="_blank"><b>hybrid</b></a> <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/11/dang-tian-mie-kou-yin-yang-chan.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">gun</a>-<b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/11/dang-tian-mie-kou-yin-yang-chan.html" target="_blank">polearms</a></b> in the Ming arsenal, Qiang Chong is equipped with a proper matchlock mechanism as well as iron sights, and does not have an overly fancy name. It should also not to be confused with <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/06/qiang-chong.html" target="_blank">another weapon with the same name</a></b>.</div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-91386240741288911332024-01-28T08:00:00.000-08:002024-02-01T23:21:01.597-08:00Du Huo Fei Pao (毒火飛砲)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKfO-BEkViFt5CRriY8fG_8l9a5Nd709VXg0Y0ZpTBGmIkFgPoFUkTfQOPnhuFDbXVBkGLqI1_qHUWCYRgfHv4ng6XP7NAvQR6NSFE1VH6E1wVNITJ6nv1ZgFth5rKp1wcmgBVKoWswjtYq-6SRzY-J8Kg2rXZnoEmTlwnmuiR8XhxXFe6bmxxnWrM5uA/s3324/du_huo_fei_pao.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2676" data-original-width="3324" height="515" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKfO-BEkViFt5CRriY8fG_8l9a5Nd709VXg0Y0ZpTBGmIkFgPoFUkTfQOPnhuFDbXVBkGLqI1_qHUWCYRgfHv4ng6XP7NAvQR6NSFE1VH6E1wVNITJ6nv1ZgFth5rKp1wcmgBVKoWswjtYq-6SRzY-J8Kg2rXZnoEmTlwnmuiR8XhxXFe6bmxxnWrM5uA/w640-h515/du_huo_fei_pao.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a paper fuse (top right), paper sealing tube (middle right), wooden fuse (top bottom), shell casing (top left) and bombard (bottom left), from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><b>
Du Huo Fei Pao</b> (毒火飛砲, lit. 'Poisonous fire flying cannon') is a bombard-launched explosive shell that is launched from <b>Wan Kou Pao</b> (碗口砲, lit. 'Bowl-muzzle cannon'), an ordinary stone-throwing bronze bombard already in widespread use since the founding of Ming Dynasty.<div><br /></div><div>First appeared in late 15th/early 16th century and entered mass production by 1544 at the latest, Du Huo Fei Pao is a spherical cast iron shell filled with black powder and up to five taels of sulfur, arsenic and other poisonous substance/irritants (hence the name "poisonous fire"), and is equipped with a fuse known as <b>Mu Xin</b> (木信, lit. 'Wooden fuse'), which consists of burning fuse(s) winded around a screw-threaded wooden rod and sealed inside a thick paper tube to prevent premature contact between the fuse and bursting charge inside the shell. A cleverly designed ignition device, Mu Xin allows for easy adjustment of time-delay before detonation (through increasing or decreasing the number of threads on the wooden rod and thus the length of the burning fuse).</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite its ingenuity, Mu Xin does have some drawbacks, as It is a fairly complicated device assembled from three different components (burning fuse, wooden rod and paper tube), not to mention hand-carving screw threads onto a wooden rod takes considerable amount of skill and time. Fortunately, an alternative that offers similar level of consistency whilst being far easier to made was later discovered. Known as <b>Zhi Xin</b> (紙信, lit. 'Paper fuse'), this alternative fuse is simply the <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xvVJQSGHts&t=275s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">motor part</a></b> of a <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/09/rocket-weaponry-of-ming-dynasty-p1.html" target="_blank">Chinese rocket</a></b> being adapted into a fuse.</div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>EXTRA: Bigyeok Jincheonroe (비격진천뢰 or 飛擊震天雷)</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibl-mhUncO1JNOKVUSyQx67D0xrQytEVzx8Y-CcPVODe980kzZLjLP42jeM0nE9VZaAgI6oYidj0rk9pgMRy4fNK9_p55ZWmL05ZJ6QF3r2e_VaRBKy0jz0rpS5isNh3JS0c2R4CP04MkW-rbMtraG2jMR9Jh9h8ikkdbfQYkcfpiD76o81u1CQjyYAeQ/s1063/%E9%A3%9B%E6%93%8A%E9%9C%87%E5%A4%A9%E9%9B%B7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="671" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibl-mhUncO1JNOKVUSyQx67D0xrQytEVzx8Y-CcPVODe980kzZLjLP42jeM0nE9VZaAgI6oYidj0rk9pgMRy4fNK9_p55ZWmL05ZJ6QF3r2e_VaRBKy0jz0rpS5isNh3JS0c2R4CP04MkW-rbMtraG2jMR9Jh9h8ikkdbfQYkcfpiD76o81u1CQjyYAeQ/w404-h640/%E9%A3%9B%E6%93%8A%E9%9C%87%E5%A4%A9%E9%9B%B7.jpg" width="404" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a large Bigyeok Jincheonroe, from 'Yungwon pilbi (《융원필비》 or 《戎垣必備》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Bigyeok Jincheonroe is a cast iron shrapnel shell invented in Joseon Dynasty Korea by weapon engineer Yi Jangson (이장손 or 李長孫) in 1591, and proved instrumental in the liberation of Gyeongju city from Japanese invaders during <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea_(1592%E2%80%931598)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Imjin War</a></b> that broke out one year after its invention.</div><div><br /></div><div>Named after <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-fei-kong.html" target="_blank">another Chinese weapon</a></b>, Bigyeok Jincheonroe bears a striking resemblance to Du Huo Fei Pao even down to design of the fuse based on screw-threaded wooden rod, suggesting that its invention may be inspired by Du Huo Fei Pao. Nevertheless, there are some notable differences between the two as well, chief among them material of the sealing tube—the Koreans used a bamboo tube whereas the Chinese used a paper tube—which likely influenced the design of the fuse hole as well. Specifically, Bigyeok Jincheonroe has a large rectangular fuse hole with a matching iron lid, not found on Du Huo Fei Pao (which has a normal round fuse hole). This is due to the fact that bamboo is relatively rigid and smooth-surfaced, which may cause the fuse to slip out of the hole if it is not pinned in place by the iron lid. In contrast, paper is supple and coarse and serves as natural wadding, allowing the fuse to fit snugly into the hole like a <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopper_(plug)" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">stopper</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Koreans also appeared to never adopt the convenient Zhi Xin fuse.</div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-50917440062969465492023-11-24T08:05:00.000-08:002023-11-24T08:05:00.144-08:00Patreon supporter only: Firearms regiment of Wen brothers<h4 style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/firearms-of-wen-92567527"><img border="0" data-original-height="4359" data-original-width="4001" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_LtNpF0Wix8mYNeRrTTxEzMGYPKhSeEuYV_O0KVxshmBNGm7wwKkWQ6aMUPJ8bHKHXgJmVBx_0Zv4e84w8rOAC_Cv9PE-jtJu5T_8vdQhJ5FjwGzNycJGk87WZMiV6PA3k36x7OuV75z2PDzviCoazon-P7KxQ9KkYBeWeXY0pHYtfbM9RXLbEXGEx7E/w588-h640/patreon_nov2023.jpg" width="588" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some firearms commonly used in Northwest China (in particular Shaanxi and Xuanfu Garrison) around 1600s, roughly to-scale to the soldier.</td></tr></tbody></table></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Preface</b></h4>The reluctance of various garrisons in North China to adopt matchlock gun on a large scale, criticism by general Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光) regarding Ming northern troops' impatience and indiscipline, and the bad impression northern troops left on the Koreans during Imjin War, sometimes give an impression that northern troops were somehow unsophisticated, close-minded and hidebound compared to their southern brethren who eagerly absorbed European science and technology.<div><br /></div><div>However, this is evidently untrue. Ming northern troops were very much shaped by their environment (i.e. strong winds common in North China often blow away gunpowder inside priming pan, whcih makes matchlock gun unreliable), limitations (i.e. difficulties in acquiring good quality iron ore which were mostly produced in Fujian) as well as challenges they faced (i.e. Mongols horsemen), and refined their tactics and equipment along a very different path.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div>This article is available to my Supporter-tier Patrons only, It can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/firearms-of-wen-92567527" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary" target="_blank">Patreon</a></b>!</div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-70666175121970304142023-11-24T08:00:00.031-08:002023-11-24T08:00:00.145-08:00Di Lei Lian Pao (地雷連砲) and Xun Lei Pao (迅雷砲)<h4 id="dileilianpao"><b>Di Lei Lian Pao (地雷連砲, lit. 'Ground thunder rapid cannon')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFw8_m9JHipo28moOpimmQ3UztTL91YHIPB7BSrl-HAn7PbSxfxq7PRuw6G5C0cCSGilX1ikemjBTvvyMgr-IYPqPi25y3ul_FlJwP67wWDzlW5EODNiyCpk1oRaWKg6m9KIVR_kGBtoNm8F2kaBctN-HJ7GGgKRgVCfnrX9Kb-tDAFiU7Ozzd5C_g-YE/s917/dileilianpao.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="917" data-original-width="633" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFw8_m9JHipo28moOpimmQ3UztTL91YHIPB7BSrl-HAn7PbSxfxq7PRuw6G5C0cCSGilX1ikemjBTvvyMgr-IYPqPi25y3ul_FlJwP67wWDzlW5EODNiyCpk1oRaWKg6m9KIVR_kGBtoNm8F2kaBctN-HJ7GGgKRgVCfnrX9Kb-tDAFiU7Ozzd5C_g-YE/w442-h640/dileilianpao.jpg" width="442" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of three soldiers firing three Di Lei Lian Pao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Di Lei Lian Pao is a small volley gun that consists of 10 small cannons brazed to a solid iron stock in a fan shape. Originated from Shaanxi (陝西) region of Northwest China, Di Lei Lian Pao is a very lightweight weapon weighing only twenty catties (11.8 kg or 26 lbs) which allows the weapon to be easily deployed and transported without a wheeled gun carriage——an important feature allowing the weapon to be used more effectively against fast-paced Mongol horsemen. Despite being a volley gun that fires its shots in a spread, Di Lei Lian Pao is still fitted with an iron sight.<br /><br />To prevent the huge recoil generated by all ten barrels firing simultaneously from throwing off such a light weapon, potentially even hurting its user, the iron stock of Di Lei Lian Pao has an integrated ring that allows the weapon to be staked to the ground during use.<br /><div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7zQQtH63XY6TFjCl9lzbfYbZIaoUlQMSXsXcE5IFRTucpeQRPUpSaaj5Agm5wWwjJwqbq9_tme7FxkphANrNXMVPV2A3ZZBTyBRatjDXleq67ui6MwXuP9R6txycN04b_N3oGFOUXUF8GtILn-_6sQOOcs4OK5jql_Ffz8V3LU1EYJfA0sQngeGgnv0/s1202/hedapao.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="822" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7zQQtH63XY6TFjCl9lzbfYbZIaoUlQMSXsXcE5IFRTucpeQRPUpSaaj5Agm5wWwjJwqbq9_tme7FxkphANrNXMVPV2A3ZZBTyBRatjDXleq67ui6MwXuP9R6txycN04b_N3oGFOUXUF8GtILn-_6sQOOcs4OK5jql_Ffz8V3LU1EYJfA0sQngeGgnv0/w438-h640/hedapao.jpg" width="438" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of one soldier firing multiple Di Lei Lian Pao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Di Lei Lian Pao was originally a tripwire gun that uses <b>Gang Lun Fa Huo (鋼輪發火)</b> as its triggering mechanism (hence 'Di Lei [地雷]' in its name), although this was later changed to having a gunner to manually fire the volley gun, as this was found to be much more convenient and responsive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Di Lei Lian Pao utilises a two-stage fuse, which consists of a very short section of normal fuse (i.e. Chinese paper fuse), known as <b>Zou Xian </b>(走線, lit. 'Walking thread'), which connects to a much longer section of flat quickmatch fuse, known as <b>Bian Xian</b> (扁線, lit. 'Flat thread') that extends all the way to the touch hole of the volley gun. The use of long fuse to ignite Di Lei Lian Pao allows the gunner to stand at a safe distance from the weapon, as well as for a single gunner to operate multiple guns by himself.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<h4 id="xunleipao"><b>Xun Lei Pao (迅雷砲, lit. 'Quick thunder cannon')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv9O6Rd16Poy1BC0hO5ouUdkBdWsZ2_i3VW-t2MQRaBzLBnr3o-PoBiF9xkA5n2JJ_RwrGf008v03FzJVPRh-eo4FBKhZ5qaD2ibEw7Reze7rkoXO-AgFFzlXiKAyxFJDOhL2X4ZkUGzIgAIyIRwtxGDEORAjICJ66H_AfDkxPd-UklzhVYocU4zu39Q/s1713/xunleipao1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1713" data-original-width="1272" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv9O6Rd16Poy1BC0hO5ouUdkBdWsZ2_i3VW-t2MQRaBzLBnr3o-PoBiF9xkA5n2JJ_RwrGf008v03FzJVPRh-eo4FBKhZ5qaD2ibEw7Reze7rkoXO-AgFFzlXiKAyxFJDOhL2X4ZkUGzIgAIyIRwtxGDEORAjICJ66H_AfDkxPd-UklzhVYocU4zu39Q/w476-h640/xunleipao1.jpg" width="476" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Xun Lei Pao, from 'Li Qi Jie (《利器解》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Xun Lei Pao is basically a larger, lighter, more powerful, but single shot version of Di Lei Lian Pao. It is a small iron cannon weighing only 10 catties (6 kg or 13 lbs) and comes with a slightly flared muzzle, front and back iron sight, as well as an extended solid portion behind the cannon breach with a hole punch through it, which allows the cannon to be staked to the ground during use, much like its multi-shot counterpart.</div><div><br />Xun Lei Pao should not to be confused with <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/11/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-xun-lei-chong.html" target="_blank">Xun Lei Chong (迅雷銃)</a></b>, a weapon with similar name.</div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-34478866291844897742023-10-15T20:42:00.004-07:002023-12-23T19:07:52.757-08:00Patreon supporter only: The twenty-four generals of Yue Gang (月港)<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-four-of-90011273" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4331" data-original-width="4001" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-C2H_VybuCQnnAgfOZ-JOHk-S-G_ESVEZQVe5GdqXZ7BkHVTnfO8N5adcT8ix3jpj2Xr4Bmv3fVF_gQ0MhdHCS-P7jDQSyhCNLOIQdviWQ3KvAHVhYSnI4c6rmwPb7W4z5aiA5_VwUAh5_xWkhf5EtAPQymMJ5rnKgsTlV9oykJZ1VMO61l6FiAEBHvQ/w592-h640/yuegang.jpg" width="592" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scenic photo of Yuegang Ancient Town, now a tourist attraction.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span></span>Several months ago I explored the story of <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/zhang-lian-zhang-75978803" target="_blank">Zhang Lian (張璉), self-appointed Flying Dragon Emperor</a></b>, which provides us a rare and interesting case study of a Chinese-led rebellion during <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p1.html" target="_blank">Jia Jing Da Wo Kou (嘉靖大倭寇)</a></b>, and how different it was compared to Japanese-style Wokou raids that happened contemporaneously. For this month we will be looking at Twenty-four generals of Yue Gang (月港, lit. 'Moon harbour'), who despite their fancy name were bona fide smugglers, but of a very different nature to typical Chinese collaborators of Wokou.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div>This article is available to my Supporter-tier Patrons only, It can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/twenty-four-of-90011273" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary" target="_blank">Patreon</a></b>!</div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-10777645498235115712023-09-06T09:00:00.299-07:002023-09-14T01:56:37.368-07:00War cart regiment of Zeng Xian (曾銑)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8ajE35kHvZxaXfIgNETFnmE_uEpE6ACUrveVDkS1vBFgZeP1v7cvyvds053tqKEm9Pzvf8FPLs9Q7Vtc4xSAOkLPDpf-jXfRpialnrMXTm5qUSXxhx61NakKna5aFg8StI7y3Meo5vnjn2U-qnjKszkIZiC8bTdNkPOlg4PgwibR0aha6X3IMEu3BQA/s620/ezgif-2-f5f7366ef6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Satellite map of Hetao region" border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="620" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-8ajE35kHvZxaXfIgNETFnmE_uEpE6ACUrveVDkS1vBFgZeP1v7cvyvds053tqKEm9Pzvf8FPLs9Q7Vtc4xSAOkLPDpf-jXfRpialnrMXTm5qUSXxhx61NakKna5aFg8StI7y3Meo5vnjn2U-qnjKszkIZiC8bTdNkPOlg4PgwibR0aha6X3IMEu3BQA/w640-h358/ezgif-2-f5f7366ef6.jpg" title="Hetao region China" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Satellite map of modern Hetao region. </td></tr></tbody></table><h3><b>The plan to reclaim Hetao</b></h3><div>The region known as <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetao" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hetao (河套)</a></b> is a collection of flood plains located in northwestern China. Consists of vast grasslands in stark contrast to its arid desert/steppe surroundings, Hetao region has historically been of utmost strategic importance to both China and its nomadic enemies, as its fertile grasslands are suitable for pastoral and agricultural activities, making it an ideal staging ground for nomadic incursion into China's heartlands, while at the same time also served as an important source of warhorse for sedentary Chinese dynasties as well as allowing the Chinese to station large numbers of troops here as the first line of defence against steppe incursions.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br />Unfortunately, the advent of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Little Ice Age</a></b> changed everything as Hetao became increasingly cold and arid by late Yuan-early Ming period. Although the region remained in Chinese hands since the founding of Ming Dynasty, it had become a financial burden to the fledgling Ming Dynasty due to decreasing agricultural output, eventually forcing the Chinese to vacate the region. For a time, this wasn't a big problem because Ming Dynasty decisively smashed <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Yuan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Northern Yuan</a></b> into fragmented feuding tribes during <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buir_Lake" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Battle of Buir Lake</a></b> in 1388, relieving much of the military pressure from the north and forcing the nomads to also vacate Hetao. However, as the Mongols slowly consolidated despite near-constant power struggle and emerged stronger under a series of competent leaders such as <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esen_Taishi" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Esen Taishi</a></b> and <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayan_Khan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dayan Khan</a></b>, they began to probe into Hetao again by 1430s. The balance of power finally shattered in the 16th century as <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumed" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tümed</a></b> Mongols under <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altan_Khan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Altan Khan</a></b> officially moved in and settled in Hetao and even founded the city of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohhot" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hohhot</a></b>, putting the safety of Ming's northwest border in peril.</div><div><br />It was during this time that the prospect of reclaiming Hetao became a hotly-debated topic within Ming court. Zeng Xian (曾銑), a veteran Ming commander and one of the handful that could and did defeat the dreaded Altan Khan, was a huge proponent of it, writing no less than four memorials to the throne to promote his idea to the emperor between 1546-1548. The war cart regiment was thus the centrepiece of his plan to reclaim Hetao.</div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>The war cart</b></h3>Zeng Xian's war cart is known as <b>Pi Li Che</b> (霹靂車, lit. 'Thunderclap cart'), possibly the same one or closely related to <b>Xian Feng Pi Li Che</b> (先鋒霹靂車, lit. 'Vanguard thunderclap cart'), an earlier design created by Fan Ji (範吉) in 1503. While its detailed specifications are unfortunately lost, it is known that Zheng Xian laid out a detailed list of weapons used by the war cart, shown below:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>18 <b>Pi Li Pao</b> (霹靂砲, lit. 'Thunderclap handgonne'): a type of early Ming single-barrel handgonne that shoots five lead bullets per shot.</li><li>1 <b>Da Lian Zhu Pao</b> (大連珠砲, lit. 'Great rapid bead cannon'): an early Ming cannon or heavy handgonne that shoots ten lead bullets per shot.</li><li>1 <b>Er Lian Zhu Pao</b> (二連珠砲, lit. 'Second rapid bead cannon'): smaller version of Da Lian Zhu Pao that shoots five lead bullets per shot.</li><li>2 <b>Shou Ba Chong</b> (手把銃, lit. 'Handheld gun'): a type of early Ming single-barrel handgonne that shoots two lead bullets per shot.</li><li>4 <b>Zhan Kou Jiang Jun</b> (盞口將軍, lit. 'Bow-mouthed general'): a type of early Ming bombard. During Zhen Xian's time the bombard was already adapted to launch explosive shells, and Zhan Kou Jiang Jun was able to launch up to twenty explosive shells per shot.</li><li>200 rockets.</li></ul>Interestingly, all weapons used by Zeng Xian's war cart regiment were of indigenous Chinese designs, even though his contemporary, Liu Tian He (劉天和) already introduced Western-style<b> <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/breech-loading-cannons-of-ming-dynasty.html" target="_blank">Fo Lang Ji (佛朗機)</a></b> to northwestern China for quite some time.</div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>The regiment</b></h3><div>Zeng Xian's war cart regiment consisted of two core elements: the <b>Pi Li Che Dui</b> (霹靂車隊, ;it. 'Thunderclap cart platoon'), or war cart platoons, as well as <b>Xuan Feng Qi Bing</b> (選鋒奇兵, lit. 'Chosen edge unorthodox troops'), elite troops that served as organic units in support of the war cart platoons. It should be noted that the entire regiment was mounted.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><h4><b>Pi Li Che Dui (霹靂車隊)</b></h4>A Pi Li Che Dui consisted of a total of 52 personnel, including:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1 platoon commander,</li><li>1 standard bearer,</li><li>5 archers,</li><li>10 handgonners,</li><li>5 gunners manning Da Lian Zhu Pao,</li><li>5 gunners manning Er Lian Zhu Pao,</li><li>8 artillerymen operating four bombards,</li><li>10 shieldmen handling five <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2018/05/li-pai.html" target="_blank">Pang Pai (旁牌)</a></b> shields in paired teams,</li><li>5 horse catchers/handlers.</li><li>5 assigned war carts.</li></ul>A war cart regiment would have 40 war cart platoons (2,080 troops), grouped into 32 defensive <b>Pi Li Zhu Che</b> (霹靂駐車. lit. 'Thunderclap stationing cart') platoons and 8 offensive <b>Pi Li Zhan Che</b> (霹靂戰車, lit. 'Thunderclap war cart') platoons.</div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Xuan Feng Qi Bing (選鋒奇兵)</h4>A Xuan Feng Qi Bing also consisted of 52 personnel and was assigned 14 Shou Ba Chong and 8 Er Lian Zhu Pao. As the elite organic element of the regiment, all troopers of Xuan Feng Qi Bing were expected to fulfill a variety of combat roles, both mounted and dismounted.<br />A war cart regiment would have 16 such platoons (832 troops).</div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Other personnel</b></h4>The war cart regiment was led by a <b>Zhong Jun Guan</b> (中軍官, lit. 'Central army official'), who was aided by 2 <b>Qian Zong</b> (千總) vice commanders and 12 <b>Ba Zong</b> (把總) sub-commanders. Beside the commanders and various platoons, a regiment also had up to 100 <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/03/special-unit-of-ming-dynasty-jian-ye.html#yebushou" target="_blank">Ye Bu Shou (夜不收)</a></b> and drummers.<br />The war cart regiment also contained unspecified numbers of supply carts and pack mules.</div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Eight battle formations of Zeng Xian's regiments</b></h3>As part of his proposal, Zeng Xian also devised eight battle formations to better prepare his war cart regiments for the variety of combat situations they would inevitably encounter during Hetao reclamation campaign, which will be explained below. Do note that all formations are facing left.<br /><br /></div><div>Since all the formation diagrams below are drawn with a mess of Chinese characters, I created a legend to help with understanding them.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmuLpWku7Tmc9TTROllpXu1VFD5I-Scxt7e1Fu-OD0FN2Vv2Denl3zLf2qQFsspAOGyOSpXTDNAghslM12CIPthONEi9s5fSAUoD_wLLH8tEDyatgOkquNSGPhBDAyabL_t5HG1s3yOa-Iou1XrfL30TFwGuI9x1buhx875iFw7ZBMlCwr4q6y7lyci00/s2661/LEGEND.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2661" data-original-width="2470" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmuLpWku7Tmc9TTROllpXu1VFD5I-Scxt7e1Fu-OD0FN2Vv2Denl3zLf2qQFsspAOGyOSpXTDNAghslM12CIPthONEi9s5fSAUoD_wLLH8tEDyatgOkquNSGPhBDAyabL_t5HG1s3yOa-Iou1XrfL30TFwGuI9x1buhx875iFw7ZBMlCwr4q6y7lyci00/w594-h640/LEGEND.jpg" width="594" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Li Ying (立營, lit. 'Standing regiment')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzBbzn1Vra4pO4VcUolZN0q3_g_bgD4uTMr4LmtKsvyaD3ZV5yTz2__fVdiEgQqyn0MuWmNO4GDMPmP5Zmjnk4R1gzR8fuWht26hOGmVQ-He2y5JTASwhhJER_0cM7xRfYJYkxe_Qs-GSEZIPAZltPqrdeiUysyYsuY7NY7MVmGnnq7W6MsCi6BscKTI/s3459/Formation1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2624" data-original-width="3459" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzBbzn1Vra4pO4VcUolZN0q3_g_bgD4uTMr4LmtKsvyaD3ZV5yTz2__fVdiEgQqyn0MuWmNO4GDMPmP5Zmjnk4R1gzR8fuWht26hOGmVQ-He2y5JTASwhhJER_0cM7xRfYJYkxe_Qs-GSEZIPAZltPqrdeiUysyYsuY7NY7MVmGnnq7W6MsCi6BscKTI/w640-h486/Formation1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Li Ying formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Li Ying was the "default" formation of Zeng Xian's war cart regiment that can be readily adapted to other formations as situation demands. A hollow rectangular formation with deep front and rear but relatively thin flanks, Li Ying's foremost and rearmost rank consisted of five Xuan Feng Qi Bing platoons each, followed by three Xuan Feng Qi Bing platoons and two Pi Li Zhan Che platoons at second and second last ranks, followed by eight Pi Li Zhu Che platoons at third and third last ranks. Conversely, its flanks only consisted of a single file of eight Pi Li Zhu Che platoons and two Pi Li Zhan Che platoons each. At the centre of the formation, there was a smaller, secondary square formed by supply carts. Horses and other beasts of burden were placed inside the secondary square for extra protection, and Zhong Jun (headquarters unit) would also oversee and command the entire formation from here.</div></div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Yu Di Zhu Zhan (遇敵駐戰, lit. 'Defensive battle [formation] during enemy encounter') </h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3MzH1lyFXmpOVun2wGi6Fckr-S1MAw63tgao6lsiDZhp4qBL3bC8uRpA1NY1uaVgLUtp3Q6x2ERIK2YcjXdrCLPbFz0ddwhl6k2j0nn4B17ii1Zd7lHKwwVJD1_kec0RF7LQW6VHiuMyKATu9tUukbvOdD6D8kZb8Ah0qJeY85Wg7j1Uq6JsQjWZa9A/s3518/Formation2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2616" data-original-width="3518" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3MzH1lyFXmpOVun2wGi6Fckr-S1MAw63tgao6lsiDZhp4qBL3bC8uRpA1NY1uaVgLUtp3Q6x2ERIK2YcjXdrCLPbFz0ddwhl6k2j0nn4B17ii1Zd7lHKwwVJD1_kec0RF7LQW6VHiuMyKATu9tUukbvOdD6D8kZb8Ah0qJeY85Wg7j1Uq6JsQjWZa9A/w640-h476/Formation2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yu Di Zhu Zhan formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Yu Di Zhu Zhan formation was a defensive formation used when the war cart regiment's scouts detected an impending enemy attack. The formation was a compact double square (although it can also take other shapes such as circle, semicircle, wedge and rhomboid, depending on terrain), with the outer primarily square formed by Pi Li Zhan Che platoons, while the inner secondary square was formed by Pi Li Zhu Che platoons. All Pi Li Che war carts were chained together, with Pang Pai shieldmen positioned in front of the chains to protect the gaps between carts. Twelve platoons of Xuan Feng Qi Bing cavalry were positioned at the four corners of the square (i.e. three platoons per corner), both to reinforce the weakest points of the formation and to serve as flanking forces, while all other troops would dismount and occupy the space between primary and secondary square. Horses, mules, supply carts and Zhong Jun were placed inside secondary square.</div></div><div><br />The dismounted troops, who were primarily handgonners, would be divided into three squads. When enemy approached the first squad would move outside the formation to open fire, then return to the formation and replaced by the second squad, then the third, to create a continuous volley fire. If the enemy were not deterred by handgonne volleys and continued to advance closer, then Pi Li Che war carts would also join in the firing with more handgonnes and rockets, while Xuan Feng Qi Bing at the appropriate corners would also move out to outflank the enemy.</div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Qian Feng Che Zhan (前鋒車戰, lit. 'Vanguard war cart battle [formation]')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Rxovqz6y3TszZk-NBcgnt0fUjPw1Nd__3K0CaRh2Umh3MmvaStTNu3PHWpUBT1dyp8Jd0TkHzzfPA9KMi88PBqQDj0mx3VAA3eH8-xdmm4DzoX97LfECgajFqjZALPU1uda-_3VrN_E1t0owqgTTY-9cuBzVG4I5Qya7noP4wj6V0yyld6oMsmmLiOA/s3475/Formation3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2637" data-original-width="3475" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Rxovqz6y3TszZk-NBcgnt0fUjPw1Nd__3K0CaRh2Umh3MmvaStTNu3PHWpUBT1dyp8Jd0TkHzzfPA9KMi88PBqQDj0mx3VAA3eH8-xdmm4DzoX97LfECgajFqjZALPU1uda-_3VrN_E1t0owqgTTY-9cuBzVG4I5Qya7noP4wj6V0yyld6oMsmmLiOA/w640-h486/Formation3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Qian Feng Che Zhan formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Qian Feng Che Zhan formation was a formation designed for frontal engagement, used when the enemy launched a major frontal attack against the war cart regiment. It was a rectangular formation with a heavily reinforced front, and consisted of three parts. The front of the formation was a rectangle formed by Pi Li Zhan Che war carts, supported by dismounted spearmen and glaivemen and a core of mounted cavalry positioned within. Behind the front rectangle was a large contingent of cavalry (mounted Xuan Feng Qi Bing) that served as reserve as well as flanking force. </div><div><br /></div><div>The larger rear rectangle was known as <b>Lao Ying</b> (老營, lit. 'Old camp'), which served as an anchor where the rest of the formation can rally around. In addition to war carts, it also contained a secondary square formed by Pang Pai shieldmen supported by infantry handgonners (divided into three squads for volley fire), as well as a small tertiary square of supply carts. Horse handlers and mules were placed inside secondary square, while horses and Zhong Jun were positioned inside tertiary square.</div></div><div><br />Similar to its more defence-oriented counterpart, Qian Feng Che Zhan formation was able to shower enemy attackers with volleys upon volleys of handgonne fire as they get close. However, by concentrating most Xuan Feng Qi Bing to the front, it was also able to execute countercharge and pincer movement once enemy's momentum was spent.</div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Qi Bing Zhu Zhan (騎兵逐戰, lit. 'Cavalry pursuing battle [formation]')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaMg1x28PJdGtqQJLIsYZjcR6CvGAyYwHueNzKwUFIDsSjV8KZ3agG7pihpxwrFt76i72nwEN4cNiN4jLxnt-JKbTK0xm0c4wgCdcIBR-wKYnLKPgBHV1ogiziGH6bhTISYGIbMV55onjVUTtUTNCn3OALix5BtZ641xDefvXaZLmtatRxnedV9pVdLg/s3506/Formation4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2635" data-original-width="3506" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaMg1x28PJdGtqQJLIsYZjcR6CvGAyYwHueNzKwUFIDsSjV8KZ3agG7pihpxwrFt76i72nwEN4cNiN4jLxnt-JKbTK0xm0c4wgCdcIBR-wKYnLKPgBHV1ogiziGH6bhTISYGIbMV55onjVUTtUTNCn3OALix5BtZ641xDefvXaZLmtatRxnedV9pVdLg/w640-h482/Formation4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Qi Bing Zhu Zhan formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Qi Bing Zhu Zhan formation was an offensive formation designed for scenarios whereby the war cart regiment decided to countercharge an exhausted enemy, pursue a fleeing foe, quickly defeat a smaller force, or attack a lightly defended position, but still wanted some form of security. The formation consisted of a strong contingent of cavalry (mounted Xuan Feng Qi Bing) at the front, followed by a rectangle of Pi Li Zhan Che war carts with additional Xuan Feng Qi Bing (also mounted) positioned within, followed by Lao Ying at the rear.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Bu Bing Bo Zhan (步兵搏戰, lit. 'Infantry fighting battle [formation]')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjDyoQkkb-hy4p1kxRGlzq58KpFAnVbu7Xgf0LRBJ8AUuuzN0Usg3p41XUA0sDRaLXm05bZeC8gJQqDhZoSeKBY5Iwgn-eAFlUm-EM3fkvYceNVFQx4o0Ov7G8VTCc-fCAof5yh6cLfuinckAdsNhyX3b_Fx90j_df8ekYGFrlt-5fkJ1xZ1G0Xfjpqs/s3484/Formation5.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2623" data-original-width="3484" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSjDyoQkkb-hy4p1kxRGlzq58KpFAnVbu7Xgf0LRBJ8AUuuzN0Usg3p41XUA0sDRaLXm05bZeC8gJQqDhZoSeKBY5Iwgn-eAFlUm-EM3fkvYceNVFQx4o0Ov7G8VTCc-fCAof5yh6cLfuinckAdsNhyX3b_Fx90j_df8ekYGFrlt-5fkJ1xZ1G0Xfjpqs/w640-h482/Formation5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bu Bing Bo Zhan formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>The infantry counterpart to Qi Bing Zhu Zhan formation, Bu Bing Bo Zhan formation was used when treacherous terrain prevented proper deployment of war carts and cavalry, and/or bad weather hampered the use of firearms. It was identical to Qi Bing Zhu Zhan formation in most aspects, except that its front was largely replaced by infantry (dismounted Xuan Feng Qi Bing), with a heavy emphasis of archers and glaivemen and only minimal presence of cavalry and firearms (mostly rockets).</div></div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Xing Ying Jin Gong (行營進攻, lit. 'Mobile regiment offensive [formation]')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Q3EPBEEIGX4-oizt0-AOmE_ehmLIyxuXG--XaZ71irphkIfnZy5fsaOZmwVCyDps5jMGUpH4jJHv-EY53OnsBOcGtqQwdLQfpbxAQQhkdHhQ2v556vjOn6ZBObiBpbThRyMXoDr8UotcK3AUpEc3yDADMx_hhcRrCPT86ypZOMT2p3sD31AE8yr6_00/s3452/Formation6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2594" data-original-width="3452" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Q3EPBEEIGX4-oizt0-AOmE_ehmLIyxuXG--XaZ71irphkIfnZy5fsaOZmwVCyDps5jMGUpH4jJHv-EY53OnsBOcGtqQwdLQfpbxAQQhkdHhQ2v556vjOn6ZBObiBpbThRyMXoDr8UotcK3AUpEc3yDADMx_hhcRrCPT86ypZOMT2p3sD31AE8yr6_00/w640-h480/Formation6.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xing Ying Jin Gong formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Xing Ying Jin Gong formation was an offensive formation used when the <b>entire</b> war cart regiment decided to launch an attack as one single mass. It was a column formation with cavalry (mounted Xuan Feng Qi Bing) positioned at the front and rear, four files of Pi Li Che war carts at the flanks (two on each flank), and handgonners on foot positioned in-between two rows of war carts. The formation still maintained a secondary square formed by supply carts and flanked by horse handlers and mules, with horses as well as Zhong Jun positioned inside the square.</div></div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Bian Ying Chang Qu (變營長驅, lit. 'Changing regiment long chase [formation]')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVxSCr80Y2GXZqHLlcVKm_6A3hcYD8Wr-XDy15JJi2zdmBKido_5iRMgD__DXjbY4q6BUVDEpCSKDTSY9Cqnb9_HqxwwrFBiG_ChlP5VO3Re8Pia0mEWdmlIOqZe2TaPVQuq10GPUnsv4YKiDCosTzow26Rp5v8Mzscq9cnlhgh1bkxk_TRJkiQjw3tQ/s3509/Formation7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2597" data-original-width="3509" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeVxSCr80Y2GXZqHLlcVKm_6A3hcYD8Wr-XDy15JJi2zdmBKido_5iRMgD__DXjbY4q6BUVDEpCSKDTSY9Cqnb9_HqxwwrFBiG_ChlP5VO3Re8Pia0mEWdmlIOqZe2TaPVQuq10GPUnsv4YKiDCosTzow26Rp5v8Mzscq9cnlhgh1bkxk_TRJkiQjw3tQ/w640-h474/Formation7.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bian Ying Chang Qu formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>The inverse of Xing Ying Jin Gong formation, Bian Ying Chang Qu formation was used when the war cart regiment had to traverse difficult terrain that limits turning and maneuvering. All Pi Li Zhan Che platoons were moved to the front and rear and supported by Pang Pai shieldmen, while cavalry (mounted Xuan Feng Qi Bing) were assigned to protect the flanks. At the centre of the formation, there was a tripled square formation formed by handgonners on foot at the outer layer, Pi Li Zhu Che platoons at the middle layer, and supply carts at the inner layer. As usual, horse handlers and mules were placed inside the middle square, while horses as well as Zhong Jun were positioned inside the inner square.</div></div><div><br /><h4 style="text-align: left;">Huo Gong Shou Bing (獲功收兵, lit. 'Withdraw [formation] after acquiring gains')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0E3VEbTN9LjK91HxA433b7_kX5zRzEXqlyKY2cVi-BoRz0lXvcR6pKJVRwhpMcyeiu3ciZ_Z5UtKxt8HRl8GPBLvN4z4nWeLDgx4IyGWFmgmouDtI8snUr-ogWzoQA-6Fsq7nq4rbYGN_5sXQE9XsHgal3KDXzyIH4e54PvGJ_sMmgD8ADfNBkuxFoU/s3492/Formation8.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2610" data-original-width="3492" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0E3VEbTN9LjK91HxA433b7_kX5zRzEXqlyKY2cVi-BoRz0lXvcR6pKJVRwhpMcyeiu3ciZ_Z5UtKxt8HRl8GPBLvN4z4nWeLDgx4IyGWFmgmouDtI8snUr-ogWzoQA-6Fsq7nq4rbYGN_5sXQE9XsHgal3KDXzyIH4e54PvGJ_sMmgD8ADfNBkuxFoU/w640-h478/Formation8.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huo Gong Shou Bing formation, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Huo Gong Shou Bing formation was used when the war cart regiments had accumulated gains from previous engagements (such as from a <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-is-dao-chao-68927309" target="_blank">Dao Chao</a></b> [<b>Note:</b> Patrons-only article] operation) and was in the process of returning to friendly territories, but was trailed or caught up by enemy pursuers. Interestingly, regiment would split into two square formations for mutual support. The first square, formed by Pi Li Zhan Che platoons with all Xuan Feng Qi Bing hiding behind the war carts, was used to protect the spoils of war. The second square continued to serve as Lao Ying/anchor and maintained the same same configuration it had in other formations. The purpose of this formation was to hide all vulnerable personnel, mounts and materiel out of sight, presenting nothing but strongly defended war carts to the enemy to dissuade attack.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>In case the regiment needed to spend the night in the wild, both squares would once again merge into one for increased security. In addition, around 2~300 Xuan Feng Qi Bing, organised into teams of fifty, were tasked with sentry duty to keep the regiment safe.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>The great injustice and death of Zeng Xian</b></h3><div>Regrettably, while Zeng Xian was a very capable commander and his proposed plan to reclaim Hetao was militarily sound, as a frontier general he had little idea of the political intricacies inside Ming court, and his proposed plan cannot solve the fundamental issues (i.e. cost) that caused Ming Dynasty to retreat from Hetao region in the first place. In his overeagerness, Zeng Xian underreported the cost of executing such a plan to Jiajing Emperor, who happily approved his plan but soon realised the massive budget overrun that will surely entail should the plan be put into motion. Angered but unwilling to go back on his word as the emperor, Jiajing Emperor took advantage of the intense political struggle within his court that eventually dragged Zeng Xian into the mess and executed him for treason in 1548, and the reclamation plan was scrapped before it even had the chance to see the light of day. Mere two years later, Altan Khan rode pass the Great Wall and besieged Beijing, and Ming Dynasty was never able to reclaim Hetao.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, many military tactics either pioneered or first codified by Zeng Xian, such as the practice of forming a secondary square/fort inside the formation (which was almost unique to Chinese-style wagon fort formations), incorporation of firearms, organising war carts, infantry, cavalry, firearms and logistics into a self-contained combined arms regiment, as well as devising different formations for to suit different tactical needs, would live on and being <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2018/10/square-formation-of-xu-lun-p1.html" target="_blank">further</a></b> <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2018/10/square-formation-of-xu-lun-p2.html" target="_blank">refined</a></b> <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2019/01/square-formation-of-xu-lun-p3.html" target="_blank">by</a></b> <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/square-formation-24781334" target="_blank">those</a></b> <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/02/yu-da-you-war-cart-p3.html" target="_blank">that</a></b> <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/02/yu-da-you-war-cart-p4.html" target="_blank">came</a></b> <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/04/qi-ji-guangs-che-ying-p2.html" target="_blank">after</a></b> him to effectively counter the Mongols.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-cart-of-zeng-88122938" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="365" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY3Bg6FBmwb0kNbhwT4dEnFP3afjOl0Xt9oytfrKHaKQcYXG3seNu68v_ZYA8eoJbfCCxiRWe-IeMoKh1zb13E9Z6JrHt-wbm5EeFAvxrbm2CxlpdMZzsf4PWWn-dsrAfRIb2QFzEPoHg2PBk5mLE7Q__Yrqih9oWlXQiGCqFhwVdDjCCrJID1Ve-qQGE/w640-h254/patreon-30%25.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/war-cart-of-zeng-88122938" target="_blank">Extra content is available to my Supporter-tier patrons!</a></b></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><div><div><p></p></div></div></div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-49753577657840447052023-07-14T09:00:00.001-07:002023-07-14T09:00:00.142-07:00Equipment of a Ming soldier — Xian Mei (銜枚)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTUGxkvmKIAcsQt4IiJL2aUNqCcOk9DDhrE-W7jxLHX4-G5geLfaF948Xdu57XvBql31qyyQscQ9CbYcHp_3guJxNtmmSRX20uqerzOj-pssGi_dlwyZdFKwfR_7K_m6PF9fIXaeVtWT8Z1CNJnB2N5Huv4Y1UmoJVg993bOwrAoX3xyo5pe9w2VuIIM/s2565/xianmei.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ancient Chinese military bit gag" border="0" data-original-height="2565" data-original-width="1760" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTUGxkvmKIAcsQt4IiJL2aUNqCcOk9DDhrE-W7jxLHX4-G5geLfaF948Xdu57XvBql31qyyQscQ9CbYcHp_3guJxNtmmSRX20uqerzOj-pssGi_dlwyZdFKwfR_7K_m6PF9fIXaeVtWT8Z1CNJnB2N5Huv4Y1UmoJVg993bOwrAoX3xyo5pe9w2VuIIM/w440-h640/xianmei.jpg" title="Ming Dynasty military bit gag" width="440" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of the flat back side of a Xian Mei, with placeholder soldier and military unit names written on it. From 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><b>Xian Mei</b> (銜枚, lit. 'Bit stick') or simply <b>Mei</b> (枚) is a simple wooden or bamboo stick used as a gag for soldiers, both to prevent unnecessary chattering while the army was on the move, as well as an aid for observing noise discipline during special military operation such as night raid and ambush. Such device has a very long history of military use in ancient China—records of soldiers conducting night raids with Xian Mei between their teeth can be found in some of the earliest Chinese texts such as <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rites_of_Zhou" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rites of Zhou</a></b> and <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_of_the_Grand_Historian" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Records of the Grand Historians</a></b>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ming Dynasty iteration of Xian Mei, largely finalised by famous commander Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光), is a 4 <i>cun</i> (12.8 cm/5 in) long and 5 <i>fen</i> (16 mm/0.6 in) wide bamboo stick that comes with a <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanyard" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lanyard</a></b> to be worn around the neck or hung from the side of a helmet when not in use. Qi Ji Guang also specifically preferred semi-cylindrical slip over a round rod so as to have a writable surface, as he intended Xian Mei to double as <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_tag" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">identification tag</a></b> for his soldiers.</div><p></p>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-25458408188737099372023-06-19T09:00:00.040-07:002023-12-22T17:58:01.437-08:00Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou (飛輪架海舟) and Tao Chuan Zi Mu Lun Zhou Chuan (套船子母輪舟船)<h4 id="feilunjiahaizhou"><b>Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou (飛輪架海舟, lit. '</b>'Flying wheel sea-rack ship'<b>')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3gGUlY7qvCQ48t0ix4Sgf7S2hjIXkV9QrYQ_WjZ7OUPCWNLbZF0-RCAovfYiqAevn_vR_K8wcbucf2K0nDQVSnlqRynTlEQN5cfkI6hw7VK_aW44g4BjnbtFYP0B0frkguWQ6h7kWFr1rfwi6PMmu66K45rWEJcVTEovVok_hD6fqvGU1w9I0Smx/s1415/fei_lun_jia_hai_zhou.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="942" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3gGUlY7qvCQ48t0ix4Sgf7S2hjIXkV9QrYQ_WjZ7OUPCWNLbZF0-RCAovfYiqAevn_vR_K8wcbucf2K0nDQVSnlqRynTlEQN5cfkI6hw7VK_aW44g4BjnbtFYP0B0frkguWQ6h7kWFr1rfwi6PMmu66K45rWEJcVTEovVok_hD6fqvGU1w9I0Smx/w426-h640/fei_lun_jia_hai_zhou.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou, from 'Bing Jing (《兵鏡》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou is a warship of unusual design, possibly a Ming-era throwback to older paddle wheel warships from the previous dynasties (as hinted by its tower ship-style crenellated superstructure). Intended as a capital-class warship despite its moderate size, Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou is made of expensive and durable <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanmu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">nanmu</a></b> wood and comes with two masts, four inboard paddle wheels and twelve large oars. In addition, it also has two large slots at the bow and stern, which allow two ships to be connected together via wooden beams into a <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catamaran" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">catamaran</a></b>-like configuration for increased stability.</div><div><br /></div>
<h4 id="taochuanzimulunzhouchuan"><b>Tao Chuan Zi Mu Lun Zhou Chuan (套船子母輪舟船, lit. 'Ship-sheathing mother and child wheeled ship')</b></h4>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5lR-7NoqPylw7EKmjw6ntfV76nkfZtGcuAprtYq7-E7C6NUeHRXOwnZvEucfE5gCpR5pt980xtY42jxiTfI_xTCZ62OewPi3p-M1ah58gLYMoTb40_pM6xE3ZzRzloET9nnD2yg7whA2qAm7LMuMI2p4FeXPoj3DoB4VRvPjU97MFx26KX371SGL/s1426/tao_chuan_zi_mu_lun_zhou.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="926" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5lR-7NoqPylw7EKmjw6ntfV76nkfZtGcuAprtYq7-E7C6NUeHRXOwnZvEucfE5gCpR5pt980xtY42jxiTfI_xTCZ62OewPi3p-M1ah58gLYMoTb40_pM6xE3ZzRzloET9nnD2yg7whA2qAm7LMuMI2p4FeXPoj3DoB4VRvPjU97MFx26KX371SGL/w416-h640/tao_chuan_zi_mu_lun_zhou.jpg" width="416" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Tao Chuan Zi Mu Lun Zhou Chuan, from 'Bing Jing (《兵鏡》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Tao Chuan Zi Mu Lun Zhou Chuan is actually not a different ship design, but a detachable exterior shell/auxiliary armour equipped by Fei Lun Jia Hai Zhou. Made of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunninghamia_lanceolata" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chinese fir</a></b>, the exterior shell encloses the warship from the front and flanks, and comes with a bow fitted with barbed spikes and storage space filled with gunpowder and flammable materials. Beside protecting the warship from grounding hazards, the exterior shell is also a potent weapon in its own right, allowing the warship to ram into enemy ship, ignite the payload, then discard the shell to disengage.春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-41329537207113271452023-06-16T19:18:00.002-07:002023-10-15T20:25:17.089-07:00Patreon supporter only: Zhang Lian (張璉), Flying Dragon Emperor<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/zhang-lian-zhang-75978803" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Flying Dragon Temple in Raoping County, Guangdong, built to venerate Zhang Lian." border="0" data-original-height="3385" data-original-width="4000" height="542" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3c2gEBLFzrHighXdRyX_gbKAN86lVYlZvyz9GLCmVG96ys6xbnwArNw1lZDAKtgQOxmKjVxo4U9rK9q7fhzBpp0t0infjFU7Zss2dUl5XtEVNEM7aNArMAbR1YBKMAkd7dBjc4W8gtoKPHnfLnIOTQFfHaR3tG7OA3UlmHxvB-KV-89Td1G4TYjJ/w640-h542/flying_dragon_temple.jpg" title="Flying Dragon Temple in Raoping County, Guangdong, built to venerate Zhang Lian." width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying Dragon Temple in Raoping County, Guangdong, built to venerate Zhang Lian.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/zhang-lian-zhang-75978803" target="_blank"><b></b></a></span></div>I came across Zhang Lian's rebellion while researching and revising my blog posts about Wokou. A very interesting figure, Zhang Lian was not a Wokou but a mountain bandit through and through, although he was often conflated and lumped together with other Wokou, especially by later historians, in part due to the unfortunate timing of his rebellion (happened around the same time as <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p1.html" target="_blank">Jia Jing Da Wo Kou</a></b>), and in part due to the legends that arose after his death. In any case, Zhang Lian's rebellion (and many rebellions like it), is an interesting case study of the drastic difference in scale and behavior between Chinese-initiated outlawry and Japanese-initiated Wokou raids, which adds to the reason as to why Jia Jing Da Wo Kou should not be viewed as a Chinese phenomenon.<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><br /></div><div>This article is available to my Supporter-tier Patrons only, It can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/zhang-lian-zhang-75978803" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary" target="_blank">Patreon</a></b>!</div><p></p>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-2790944789794195272023-05-14T21:27:00.003-07:002023-05-14T21:27:00.146-07:00Chinese fire gourd<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Chong Zhen Huo Hu Lu (衝陣火葫蘆, lit. 'Phalanx-charging fire gourd')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMRGt8g_zuX8Bq7vW0n8A3gw8Bh09diReuhdgoPmOmjA0rfaOY5i8jsbNthoHf_clgQ3NmkTqvTHIdUxXiz_3rFoby5gJEx6F0AL6jeC4yqKxLdkK4hUHsTSqHif2ApL-cK2z3kbLw1f2UfCKrqPCecuLQrKQ6fI3zRm2pvJ6QHL_aQUdPqGZcJ8x/s1183/hulu1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chinese fire gourd fire lance" border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="818" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwMRGt8g_zuX8Bq7vW0n8A3gw8Bh09diReuhdgoPmOmjA0rfaOY5i8jsbNthoHf_clgQ3NmkTqvTHIdUxXiz_3rFoby5gJEx6F0AL6jeC4yqKxLdkK4hUHsTSqHif2ApL-cK2z3kbLw1f2UfCKrqPCecuLQrKQ6fI3zRm2pvJ6QHL_aQUdPqGZcJ8x/w442-h640/hulu1.jpg" title="Ming Dynasty fire calabash handgonne" width="442" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Chong Zhen Huo Hu Lu, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Chong Zhen Huo Hu Lu is an unusual weapon which is essentially a gourd-shaped iron "gun barrel" mounted on a six chi long wooden pole. Intended to be paired with a <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/09/weaponised-shields-of-ming-dynasty.html" target="_blank">weaponised shield</a></b>, this handgonne/fire lance hybrid is loaded with both lead pellets as well as incendiary gunpowder that generates poisonous smoke as it burns, and is said to be effective against both infantry and cavalry. </div><div><br /></div><div>A pole-less version of this weapon is famously used by several prominent characters and their subordinates in the Chinese classical novel '<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Margin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Water Margin</a></b>', which points to an early Ming origin for the weapon.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Dui Hei Shao Ren Huo Hu Lu (對黑燒人火葫蘆, lit. 'Night-opposing, enemy-burning fire gourd')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYzC372XQ_J-aUQI7XzFXs_VkPDcZi3ew_rIkfQlljuCA-u5TfM--ozEtTk0y3jy9ImXJLp7n6gAKhDQ8CXS3meFiBLUNyoH76sV1hX1ZpkZqMpNNMOq4vAsmigEJzgkA5DKWCGg8zw0f_-0PsFWcWv-A98ydm-7VtYrnpRCE6qu2otle4KJ4asEs/s1201/hulu2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chinese fire gourd weapon" border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="825" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYzC372XQ_J-aUQI7XzFXs_VkPDcZi3ew_rIkfQlljuCA-u5TfM--ozEtTk0y3jy9ImXJLp7n6gAKhDQ8CXS3meFiBLUNyoH76sV1hX1ZpkZqMpNNMOq4vAsmigEJzgkA5DKWCGg8zw0f_-0PsFWcWv-A98ydm-7VtYrnpRCE6qu2otle4KJ4asEs/w440-h640/hulu2.jpg" title="Chinese calabash firearm" width="440" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Dui Hei Shao Ren Huo Hu Lu, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>A one-use, self-defence flamethrower designed for concealable carry, Dui Hei Shao Ren Huo Hu Lu is made out of actual dried calabash shell, heavily padded with a mixture of dirt and salt water wrapped in a layer of cloth (presumably for thermal insulation), then lacquered. The gourd bottle is filled with a mixture of ash, saltpetre, and sulfur, then carefully sealed together with smoldering tinder in a way that is reminiscence of <b><a href="https://wuxiawanderings.com/flame-stick/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chinese flame stick</a></b>. This way, the weapon doesn't need a <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_hole" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">touch hole</a></b> nor ignited separately before use, as merely unsealing the bottle will cause searing flame to jut out from its opening.</div><div><br /></div><div>Some Chinese texts, as well as Joseph Needham's 'Science and Civilisation in China', erroneously record the weapon as "Dui <b>Ma</b> Shao Ren Huo Hu Lu (對<b>馬</b>燒人火葫蘆, lit. '<b>Cavalry</b>-opposing enemy-burning fire gourd')", although it's clear from description that this weapon was not specifically designed for anti-cavalry use.</div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-63803870784855766812023-04-29T09:00:00.002-07:002023-04-29T09:00:00.151-07:00Zhao Shi Zhen's Hu Tou Che (虎頭車) and Hu Yi Che (虎翼車)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iXvX0Rkqaahl3IJ4H_abroea_ZemOsKpgUx4Oe_GES2GHw7Fc_6Cq1GFwp5ViGP6qB4I1aR8ckbU0hAkT-vZcVHfSsO_nL2Ia0d2q7ZEx8hRmihn90xVhOSOchtVFHeh4VNNu89twgmkTwBH9drEFDCRjys97NLlLz6-2TcX2Mloc6jyp-zDLfot/s1208/Hutouche_moving.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="1208" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iXvX0Rkqaahl3IJ4H_abroea_ZemOsKpgUx4Oe_GES2GHw7Fc_6Cq1GFwp5ViGP6qB4I1aR8ckbU0hAkT-vZcVHfSsO_nL2Ia0d2q7ZEx8hRmihn90xVhOSOchtVFHeh4VNNu89twgmkTwBH9drEFDCRjys97NLlLz6-2TcX2Mloc6jyp-zDLfot/w640-h448/Hutouche_moving.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hu Tou Che (left) and Hu Yi Che (right) on the move, from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'. Note that while the protective screen of Hu Tou Che has to be dismantled and transported on the wheelbarrow, the blanket of Hu Yi Che can be simply rolled-up and carried by a soldier.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Hu Tou Che (虎頭車) and Hu Yi Che (虎翼車) are two types of war wheelbarrow meant to be used together in a formation. They are comparatively simple designs devised by Ming firearm specialist Zhao Shi Zhen (趙士楨) before he went on to develop the more complex <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2021/12/zhao-shi-zhens-ying-yang-che.html" target="_blank">Ying Chang Che (鷹揚車)</a></b>.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><h4 id="hutouche"><b>Hu Tou Che (虎頭車</b>, lit. 'Tiger head cart'<b>)</b></h4></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERzfDz1sfTjPy-VOtyBOPMo-V2orS3tw40iFN4E6SdtWosActRmG_62t8lEgcqvnY4lISkLcZ4p4ZCjPirugz3oPe89BCGjcRURfkvbAu1A7sVvY0yjISwfA6q_WGK4iB3ol76Zsl9MT7etlRnJcIV5VNbuKHR80AfRk-1ZXDgHEEBzfej89Xdrib/s858/Hutouche.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="635" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhERzfDz1sfTjPy-VOtyBOPMo-V2orS3tw40iFN4E6SdtWosActRmG_62t8lEgcqvnY4lISkLcZ4p4ZCjPirugz3oPe89BCGjcRURfkvbAu1A7sVvY0yjISwfA6q_WGK4iB3ol76Zsl9MT7etlRnJcIV5VNbuKHR80AfRk-1ZXDgHEEBzfej89Xdrib/w474-h640/Hutouche.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Hu Tou Che and its sloped protective screen (highlighted), from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Hu Tou Che is essentially a wheelbarrow of a <b><a href="https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fairly typical Chinese design</a></b>, with a two handle bars and a large single wheel placed at the bottom of the barrow. Unlike its civilian counterpart, Hu Tou Che is fitted with a front wooden rack to mount the protective screen, as well as two water tanks beside its wheel that double as counterweights. Its sloped protective screen—reminiscence of frontal armour of modern tank—is the most unique component of the war wheelbarrow. Made of two layers of wooden planks, plus a row of split bamboos nailed to its outward-facing side, the lightweight yet sturdy protective screen is constructed in such a way that there is empty space between its two wooden layers that can be filled with dirt (as a defence against firearms). It is usually equipped with two large gun ports designed to accommodate the powerful <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/11/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-breechloaders.html#yingyangpao" target="_blank"><b>Ying Yang Pao (鷹揚砲)</b></a>, although some variants may have one additional gun port for either heavy <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/breech-loading-cannons-of-ming-dynasty.html" target="_blank">Fo Lang Ji (佛朗機)</a></b> or <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/06/hu-dun-pao.html" target="_blank">Hu Dun Pao (虎蹲砲)</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><h4 id="huyiche"><b>Hu Yi Che (虎翼車</b>, lit. 'Tiger wings cart')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbo9ccWqyNG4GA7NY20iOwgkpHM0Hl-jjNadyHVQQHRRvTmhkbgsqyKmpqBoIJHkyRiXCCujOw8isQT8RP2B7y6Zmag9FPMNtUSLAus_SeIWTaoF-TF-caotBeAKIEdrjGb2IBvmB6Kyzb88K4pd8jIvjkOuUL_ATHGU6cHA5f6tlkL71U9HiOf_Gr/s858/huyiche.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="635" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbo9ccWqyNG4GA7NY20iOwgkpHM0Hl-jjNadyHVQQHRRvTmhkbgsqyKmpqBoIJHkyRiXCCujOw8isQT8RP2B7y6Zmag9FPMNtUSLAus_SeIWTaoF-TF-caotBeAKIEdrjGb2IBvmB6Kyzb88K4pd8jIvjkOuUL_ATHGU6cHA5f6tlkL71U9HiOf_Gr/w474-h640/huyiche.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Hu Yi Che and its protective blanket, from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Hu Yi Che is similar to Hu Tou Che in most respects, only differ in that it has an additional set of handle bars, two wooden racks so that its protective screen can be hung on either side of the wheelbarrow, as well as only one water tank to act as counterbalance to its protective screen. In place of rigid wood-and-bamboo composite plating, Hu Yi Che uses a large rectangular blanket as its protective screen, made in the exact same way as the canopy of <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/02/zhao-shi-zhens-ju-ma-san-and-ruan-pai.html" target="_blank">Ju Ma San (拒馬傘)</a></b>.<div><br /></div><h4 id="wheelbarrowregiment"><b>Proposed wheelbarrow regiment</b></h4><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWN7g1OLHcQhGobu8tgI7261nUyqnFh2PN1deaFihpQa7CHS93Wz5CWdaq9CeVPzROoZbNKltClOkxsHRb1zpgcQMUaAOmjD9Ymm004bqPY5k0ohTRw26jXw0qLHIdXhA77nX1XQ6jtpIUtjpM1EtghgDzgwgOJhqCbXtxArpKj10jpHno1Slz2HSN/s836/Hutouche_formation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="676" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWN7g1OLHcQhGobu8tgI7261nUyqnFh2PN1deaFihpQa7CHS93Wz5CWdaq9CeVPzROoZbNKltClOkxsHRb1zpgcQMUaAOmjD9Ymm004bqPY5k0ohTRw26jXw0qLHIdXhA77nX1XQ6jtpIUtjpM1EtghgDzgwgOJhqCbXtxArpKj10jpHno1Slz2HSN/w518-h640/Hutouche_formation.jpg" width="518" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hu Tou Che and Hu Yi Che deployed together, from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div></div></div><div><div>Zhao Shi Zhen proposed a powerful regiment-sized unit for his war wheelbarrows, likely as a throwback to the then-active <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/02/qi-ji-guangs-che-ying-p1.html" target="_blank">Ji Garrison war cart regiments</a></b> raised by Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光) decades before. A detailed breakdown of Zhao Shi Zhen's proposed regiment is available on my Patreon!</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/hu-tou-che-and-80749906" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZeqM8RSytD2gK_1NQqPW8nBNbiQbrHnPq3K0SLAS0VFRbP6clks9bY0Sz6nB83h70g9MoLvUHeO_rgtPCP3Vr2icL-4tRD8PZh4efS1Np2KF2LMC8ISeqO_9qtj3r5uPyMlyqgQwRE-Y3m2ziq-NK8LLGfpCM5EA3c5eRpgx89MZvxbCADHacMNG/s16000/patreon-30%25.jpg" /></a></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-84490678448812825412023-02-22T02:38:00.005-08:002023-02-24T05:32:42.811-08:00Cang Shan Chuan (蒼山船) and Chong Mu Chuan (艟喬船)<h4 id="cangshanchuan" style="text-align: left;">Cang Shan Chuan (蒼山船, lit. 'Mount Cang ship')</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUT6E53mI6lq1rGNk1ftu0Uby67HhqTZ_bHhCCm_98dTIO2KZ4fUYr72H0P24lGKM_L-QU10Sasn_bM_PpdnIB7DTUp-S6K3ExGyhblu-dF4XcvBay8q23bKcDROd8xiW016_zThCPf7_XinL5VwyailR31ZWzbe0cSdrZrbbaDFGzz-ed5IXmmOP/s2520/cangchuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2520" data-original-width="1606" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikUT6E53mI6lq1rGNk1ftu0Uby67HhqTZ_bHhCCm_98dTIO2KZ4fUYr72H0P24lGKM_L-QU10Sasn_bM_PpdnIB7DTUp-S6K3ExGyhblu-dF4XcvBay8q23bKcDROd8xiW016_zThCPf7_XinL5VwyailR31ZWzbe0cSdrZrbbaDFGzz-ed5IXmmOP/w408-h640/cangchuan.jpg" width="408" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Cang Shan Chuan, from 'Bing Lu (《兵錄》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Cang Shan Chuan, also known as <b>Cang Shan Tie</b> (蒼山鐵, lit. 'Mount Cang iron') and often shortened to <b>Cang Chuan</b> (蒼船), is a type of small sail-and-oar ship originated from Zhejiang. Although not considered part of the "<b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/search/label/four%20great%20ancient%20ships" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Four Great Ancient Ships of China</a></b>", it was Cang Shan Chuan, rather than the more famous <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/niao-chuan.html" target="_blank">Niao Chuan (鳥船)</a></b>, that should be seen as the representative ship type from Zhejiang during Ming period.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being an extinct ship type, much less is known about Cang Shan Chuan than other Chinese junks, although information gleaned from written materials reveals that Cang Shan Chuan has a V- or S-bottom hull that is narrower than <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html" target="_blank">Fu Chuan (福船)</a> </b>but wider than <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/08/sha-chuan-and-ying-chuan.html" target="_blank">Sha Chuan (沙船)</a></b>, as well as wide prow and stern. It has two decks, the lowest level of the ship serves as its ballast, while the berth deck right above serves as accommodation for ship crew. All nautical operations of Cang Shan Chuan, as well as primary fighting compartment of militarised version of the ship, are located on its exposed upper deck, although reinforced superstructure can still be installed for better protection. A true sail-and-oar ship, Cang Shan Chuan also comes equipped with ten oars, each rowed by four oarsmen. Unusually, all of its oars are mounted at the port and starboard quarters, rather than evenly spread over the entire length of the ship.</div><div><br /></div><div>Originally built as fishing vessel, Cang Shan Chuan quickly gained favour in the Ming navy during <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p1.html" target="_blank">Wokou campaign</a></b> due to its general robustness (which also gave rise to its "iron" moniker), all-weather mobility, and ability to traverse shallow waters unreachable by Fu Chuan. Unfortunately, being one of the smallest Ming warships, Cang Shan Chuan was seen as merely on par, rather than superior to, Japanese warships, and therefore ill-suited for ramming attack and boarding action, as it could neither plough through Japanese ships like its larger cousins from Fujian and Guangdong, nor carry enough combatants to overwhelm the superior Japanese warriors in close combat. Nevertheless, Cang Shan Chuan excelled in the roles of patrolling, scouting, rescue operations, providing harassing firepower, pursuing fleeing ships, as well as picking dead bodies out of water after a naval engagement. </div><p><br /></p><h4 id="chongmuchuan" style="text-align: left;">Chong Mu Chuan (艟喬船)</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCW15vuDQqiw7fwTyAf8IuyOz-wIqj5JNU0-ZcqFTFQuGIccDigXkMvgs3oy9P4nrBZguZ9KR5FgYV7qQdFIrmxPbugbIfG5v-e_DqoVCdgiAsSW81rDMaIQiSlTXFtKF4z0se1KsoLrZVEnj2tnZySVzoEeCIRLaAdmO7P7dkOXVZc-jjtG6eRKK/s2295/dongqiaochuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2295" data-original-width="1574" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCW15vuDQqiw7fwTyAf8IuyOz-wIqj5JNU0-ZcqFTFQuGIccDigXkMvgs3oy9P4nrBZguZ9KR5FgYV7qQdFIrmxPbugbIfG5v-e_DqoVCdgiAsSW81rDMaIQiSlTXFtKF4z0se1KsoLrZVEnj2tnZySVzoEeCIRLaAdmO7P7dkOXVZc-jjtG6eRKK/w438-h640/dongqiaochuan.jpg" width="438" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Chong Mu Chuan, from 'Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)'.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Chong Mu Chuan is essentially a modified Cang Shan Chuan that is upsized, but has its <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms_(A-L)#bulwark" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bulwarks</a></b> removed (presumably to cut down on weight). Devised by famous Ming general Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光) to better combat the Wokou, Chong Mu Chuan's greater size allows it to overpower Japanese ships more easily without sacrificing the great mobility of smaller Cang Shan Chuan.春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-249574189919521892022-11-28T02:06:00.035-08:002024-02-01T23:21:08.861-08:00Movie review: Hansan: Rising Dragon<div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrjx2BxTqZzh5GVk2KlsIwjqobwbP6tunccTLrxov3kCU7ELITw3RKoo7lTCtqoeK4wtDbacZRXbpjLOgBAVH0faU5A0eDyf6YygWq9NYd1R12R8NLOUpSVssJDG8vsMMmRdnI6A_uoJnj2S6-M2MlwnnHGWIhwCUtyDn9aoXE63vgXlJmLc9eWBv/s1777/MV5BMWYzM2MzOTctODQwYy00YTFmLWIyMDItMjQ5MDk4YzBlYmFiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzOTcyODA5._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1777" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcrjx2BxTqZzh5GVk2KlsIwjqobwbP6tunccTLrxov3kCU7ELITw3RKoo7lTCtqoeK4wtDbacZRXbpjLOgBAVH0faU5A0eDyf6YygWq9NYd1R12R8NLOUpSVssJDG8vsMMmRdnI6A_uoJnj2S6-M2MlwnnHGWIhwCUtyDn9aoXE63vgXlJmLc9eWBv/s16000/MV5BMWYzM2MzOTctODQwYy00YTFmLWIyMDItMjQ5MDk4YzBlYmFiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzOTcyODA5._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>As someone with a deep interest in Imjin War, I actually enjoyed Hansan: Rising Dragon way more that I thought I would, even though objectively speaking Hansan: Rising Dragon isn't nearly as good as its critically acclaimed previous installment, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Admiral:_Roaring_Currents" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>The Admiral: Roaring Currents</b></a>. The main reason, I think, is because I only had passing knowledge about Imjin War back then, so my excitement of watching historical events unfold in the movie wasn't as high as I do now.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd-zaX-y9OURAHZXAzeOOWGzfWaefWrFNGVSqo8kT3s2A8RASsQwHE6Ci20iEuJU1Iid5_KpHb_RNFOGIKenqZysJ8mOPHSDERn2Fbdg9079v7zr1jUXdz713E3RasHDPDlnMbB9xRYDQyuCa45Nomcna4_KTTKd3osp7WC-HArmlThgi1YJoZUkw/s1577/1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="1577" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXd-zaX-y9OURAHZXAzeOOWGzfWaefWrFNGVSqo8kT3s2A8RASsQwHE6Ci20iEuJU1Iid5_KpHb_RNFOGIKenqZysJ8mOPHSDERn2Fbdg9079v7zr1jUXdz713E3RasHDPDlnMbB9xRYDQyuCa45Nomcna4_KTTKd3osp7WC-HArmlThgi1YJoZUkw/w640-h268/1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first "ha, I know that guy!" moment to the film is the debut of young naval commander Yi Un-ryong (이운룡 or 李雲龍). If only he was as heroic and good-looking during <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2020/07/siege-of-ulsan.html" target="_blank">Siege of Ulsan</a></b> as he did in this film...</td></tr></tbody></table>As with most big-budget Korean films, production quality of Hansan: Rising Dragon is top notch, and I dare say in general Korea produces far better historical epics than both China and Japan. That said, the director Kim Han-min really picked a difficult battle to adapt. Whereas The Admiral: Roaring Currents focus on the struggle of Yi Sun-sin (이순신 or 李舜臣) against overwhelming odds during <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Myeongnyang" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Battle of Myeongnyang</b></a>, which greatly humanised the legendary hero and makes for a compelling story, Hansan: Rising Dragon is set during <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hansan_Island" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Battle of Hansan Island</b></a>, of which the Koreans smoked the Japanese without much trouble, and there wasn't much of anything interesting to tell. Throughout the film I can really see the director pulls out all the stops and crammed as many artistic licenses as possible just to make the story more palatable. This ironically makes the planning, espionage and build-up of the first half far more interesting and entertaining to me than the climactic naval action of the second half, and for all the wrong reasons.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Major spoilers ahead, be warned!)<br /><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div></div><div><div><h3><b>Historical faithfulness, or lack thereof</b></h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8pJT-mKpq8OVojCB1odZZAlDnKsYaZmwQWt1zpF9fd619wsIab0HoOI2GSGq4DxxjtaHsL4kIpZm2MytevPdgrBQADziwaDP_dzSKi6ttcs_H724hGFr8_qfxk97_15mwVL_9fob9t_H7GyK_E4C8SbM__kLcT2oUybZrGtSnMdFaZJuncAJNl8j/s1577/2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1577" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje8pJT-mKpq8OVojCB1odZZAlDnKsYaZmwQWt1zpF9fd619wsIab0HoOI2GSGq4DxxjtaHsL4kIpZm2MytevPdgrBQADziwaDP_dzSKi6ttcs_H724hGFr8_qfxk97_15mwVL_9fob9t_H7GyK_E4C8SbM__kLcT2oUybZrGtSnMdFaZJuncAJNl8j/w640-h270/2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle of Yongin was a major Joseon offensive to recapture Hanseong (present-day Seoul) that ended in disaster. Despite its importance, this battle is conspicuously absent in <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2019/08/critique-samuel-hawley-p1.html" target="_blank">Samuel Hawley's book</a></b>, so it is largely unheard of in the West, even more so than Imjin War itself. </td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div>Hansan: Rising Dragon, at least, starts off grounded and faithful enough to history, with a quick retelling of important events and battles leading up to the point in the film. I particularly like the attention given to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yongin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Battle of Yongin</b></a>, which established Wakisaka Yasuharu (脇坂安治), the primary antagonist of the film, as a dangerous threat. I also like the mention of Joseon king abandoned Pyongyang and fled to Uiju, while contemplating outright submitting to Ming Dynasty in exchange for personal protection (i.e. abandoning the entirely of his Korean subjects).</div><div><br /></div><div>However, as the story progress and creative liberties took over, it quickly derails from history and become increasingly ridiculous. Sure, a few tie-in fictional stories about loyal maid serving as secret agent or a righteous Japanese defecting to the Koreans are fine, as these are largely inconsequential to the larger historical narrative. But Wakisaka Yasuharu outright attacking his fellow <i>daimyō</i> Katō Yoshiaki (加藤嘉明) and Kuki Yoshitaka (九鬼嘉隆), then confiscating their fleets at sword point? This can only be described as utter nonsense. By the way, the three of them actually met up half a month earlier, not one day before the battle as shown in the film.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEyDpZ4NE0f6MWS7fSRQadYp3TcrQcys2JeGSLWNi_GJz6ls1ZPFhJY9HzlgZdx8rJ9iTlCEctoukyCe9lENxy8s4jGdrWLz2mn6KGVO1nspse9iWjlIcyK2iQwdte9yoHDSg33v7aof1HrVW1EkZbhKoLL2opIviFxOeWj1RY6OhxfuQL6gjgEIG/s1489/4.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1489" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlEyDpZ4NE0f6MWS7fSRQadYp3TcrQcys2JeGSLWNi_GJz6ls1ZPFhJY9HzlgZdx8rJ9iTlCEctoukyCe9lENxy8s4jGdrWLz2mn6KGVO1nspse9iWjlIcyK2iQwdte9yoHDSg33v7aof1HrVW1EkZbhKoLL2opIviFxOeWj1RY6OhxfuQL6gjgEIG/w640-h268/4.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Katō Yoshiaki was a fellow <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Spears_of_Shizugatake" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seven Spears of Shizugatake</a></b> of Wakisaka Yasuharu, while Kuki Yoshitaka was a more powerful <i>daimyō</i> than him.</td></tr></tbody></table>Wakisaka Yasuharu offering Kobayakawa Takakage (小早川隆景) entire Jeolla Province so that the later will attack Yi Sun-sin's naval base by land at the same time as the naval battle also never happened. Sure, Kobayakawa Takakage’s force did attack Ungchi Pass and fought the Korean <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_army" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>righteous armies</b></a> on the same day as Battle of Hansan Island, but only because he was already tasked with the subjugation of Jeolla Province under Hideyoshi's <i>Hachidokuniwari</i> (八道国割, lit. 'Dividing the eight provinces') strategy, not because someone else bribed him. Also, he really did intend to attack Jeonju, not Yi Sun-sin's naval base.<br /><br />Oh, to the contrary of the emotional victory scene near the end of the film, Koreans actually lost the land battle.</div><div><br /><div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVoJ9HL8Hop2hVaGtnH1DkLMJpDLiW7Q4IbdvnmDuaBXRz8UpTM7Mzdtb0Jmymp0KebmKHYgkRs5aB1feqh6LEZPEQP17zq6B3zu6RsFT4oSamExsdLQFbx2Vh6LNaMwXUVtO1VRC1jF5Rs0r7pkJj2b51h0qXwQ2ZxxAN1fjTH2pfvDhgqLhSjOy/s1493/3.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1493" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVoJ9HL8Hop2hVaGtnH1DkLMJpDLiW7Q4IbdvnmDuaBXRz8UpTM7Mzdtb0Jmymp0KebmKHYgkRs5aB1feqh6LEZPEQP17zq6B3zu6RsFT4oSamExsdLQFbx2Vh6LNaMwXUVtO1VRC1jF5Rs0r7pkJj2b51h0qXwQ2ZxxAN1fjTH2pfvDhgqLhSjOy/w640-h266/3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry, never happened.</td></tr></tbody></table>As bad as they seem, I must say these are acceptable breaks from reality, as historical accuracy comes second to storytelling in an adaptation like this. Yet even with that concession I still see the story of the film as weak and awkward.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><strike>Hollywood</strike> Hallyuwood tactics</b></h3><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1581" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbHEClH6Qbh1CuzYqgnnZFnFzaY99h7XKctsIhFnD5dCKhP_SAUci0_zcXpBbmpUeAU-TJnhd0Q2rmg9ipBZBhi3PJHIo00IGqePlCXscLHGxdxxbENE5kAAl33BmrDuZ-AMWmpemC_YaW9IwZJMbSb3_z6YvtVhetk9gveAaIv-hMsdY3HSGpYqMv/w640-h268/8.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit where credit is due, large numbers of warships forming complex formation has an epic feel to it, not to mention far more visually engaging than Age of Sail-style broadside shootout. The screenplay of the movie is definitely superb.</td></tr></tbody></table>The historical Battle of Hansan Island was fought between two roughly equal-sized navies (56 Joseon ships against 73 Japanese ships, although the size of Japanese navy was exaggerated). Due to superior ship design and heavier armament, Joseon navy had a massive advantage over Japanese navy, and the resulting battle can be summed up as "Yi Sun-sin arrayed his fleet in Hak Ik-jin (鶴翼陣, lit. 'Crane wing formation') and BAM, his tactic worked and he won the battle. End of story.".</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_BF3u1YVfTEHa8s9fbaWZmIJqTQyUw0KRABZ9Ur-urZmVcEq5a7OmRnK5qDALzGrks4bUTvQwLojy3F8VccxA4-G2R-8uzpI1zHdwYad1He8G52aKXaKOCTGXe09ZN5mcx36KChMmoqlB9r9u_X-xHeDo1XRJv9sp8aa8-sNfgheZe0Jb7jXY5Xr/s1491/15.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="1491" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_BF3u1YVfTEHa8s9fbaWZmIJqTQyUw0KRABZ9Ur-urZmVcEq5a7OmRnK5qDALzGrks4bUTvQwLojy3F8VccxA4-G2R-8uzpI1zHdwYad1He8G52aKXaKOCTGXe09ZN5mcx36KChMmoqlB9r9u_X-xHeDo1XRJv9sp8aa8-sNfgheZe0Jb7jXY5Xr/w640-h266/15.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I actually quite like this scene of Yi Sun-sin writing down the names of each of the Joseon commanders to appropriate positions of his battle formation. It is a short but much appreciated moment that shows Yi Sun-sin's true calibre as a leader.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Obviously a story like that wouldn't work at all on the big screen, so the director has to dial up the difficulties to make the stakes higher and the conflict compelling. And dial up he did. Aside from the two major historical inaccuracies mentioned above making the Japanese threat much more severe, the antagonist Wakisaka Yasuharu also brought in a cannon-armed, iron-hulled warship to counter Yi Sun-sin's turtle ships, and even tried to emulate a naval version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mikatagahara" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Battle of Mikatagahara</b></a> where Tokugawa Ieyasu's <i>kakuyoku-no-jin</i> (鶴翼の陣, lit. 'Crane wing formation', Japanese analogue to Yi Sun-sin's Hak Ik-jin, sharing the exact same name) was defeated by Takeda Shingen's <i>gyorin-no-jin</i> (魚鱗の陣, lit. 'Fish scale formation').<br /><br />And thus the stakes are successfully raised, yet new dilemmas emerge. Firstly, raising the stakes also means that more attention and screen time are devoted to show the ANTAGONIST'S attempts at tackling challenge after challenge being thrown at him from the protagonist's side. While this is entertaining to watch, portraying the antagonist this way establishes the wrong kind of power dynamics (can't believe the bad guys are actually the underdog!), turning the overall narrative on its head. </div><div><br /></div><div>Secondly, with a dangerous antagonist laser-focused on countering Yi Sun-sin's every moves, a historically faithful recreation of his naval tactics seems wholly inadequate to overcome the dialed-up challenge. Yet the protagonist must win, and it's up to the director to make sure that he did. Unfortunately, the director wrote himself into a corner—lacking the military experience and genius of the historical character he is trying to portray, the ideas he's come up with are contrived and laden with issues, often requiring the antagonist to pick up idiot ball at crucial moments to work at all (the same problem can also be seen in China's <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/06/china-god-of-war-movie-review.html" target="_blank"><b>God of War movie I reviewed</b></a>). </div><div><br /></div><div>Two major issues will be discussed below:</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">The "super turtle ship" subplot</h4><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei3CfPk6I4oq3sZACISNKqu1JhiQvDvNDn2t9IzZ9AxmT-QziUM0zjsMXAwxa7DVBWICShSGH08iQ6FmVgiduKoOoc2c2mg_PGMADe2UNM4TQl2MV2Z4ckuZJ0ScwXY6R20EPVnVXTBuVScrsQ3uxh6qhsOUyQsJUQT91M0GIvqUIzhgOkGsjEpgh/s1580/9.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="1580" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgei3CfPk6I4oq3sZACISNKqu1JhiQvDvNDn2t9IzZ9AxmT-QziUM0zjsMXAwxa7DVBWICShSGH08iQ6FmVgiduKoOoc2c2mg_PGMADe2UNM4TQl2MV2Z4ckuZJ0ScwXY6R20EPVnVXTBuVScrsQ3uxh6qhsOUyQsJUQT91M0GIvqUIzhgOkGsjEpgh/w640-h268/9.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When standard turtle ship isn't cut for the job, it's time to bust out the super turtle ship!</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>The director went to great length to show the deficiencies of the original turtle ship, how the villain stole the blueprint to learn about these weaknesses, how he specifically prepared an iron-hulled warship as a counter, and how Yi Sun-sin contemplated to not deploy his turtle ships for the climactic battle—all to prepare the audience for the eventual grand reveal of the improved "super" turtle ship. </div><div><br /></div><div>In all honesty, the idea of preparing a trump card of your own to counter enemy's ace in a hole isn't half bad, and if done well the subplot could've culminate into an interesting and satisfying ultimate showdown. The problem, however, is that Yi Sun-sin was no shipbuilder, so he can only point out the problem, but not solve it himself. Thus the role of advancing arguably the most important plot thread of the story falls on the shoulders of shipwright Na Dae-yong (나대용 or 羅大用), a minor character with barely a dozen lines of dialogue. Zero participation from the protagonist alone makes this subplot the weakest part of the film.</div><div><br /></div><div>As if that wasn't enough, the subplot was then resolved offscreen. One moment Na Dae-yong was begging Yi Sun-sin to reconsider his decision to not deploy turtle ships in battle, the next moment he was already on his brand new super turtle ship, charging into battle to save the day. How did Na Dae-yong come up with the improved design? The audience are not told. He simply did. There isn't even any construction montage or eureka moment in the film.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Double-loading cannons with both cannonballs and pellets</b></h4><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoG-F3zW_Ub7XKWckdyKhidiVe4o6eirenVPdbN6CJSZMRaf8Niujn_ZZrxHbGw0nwk9xVO20NC7C4YKLXcwmbCnKtYR50T-rNFYzd2w_jfCh8xurxGXfX_VPwQCjegyN2Pt8RQH_2Y7W92MV_MXGOwZthO02_61KNnnqIJ6piyfS3vd1Xn9WV0tp3/s1495/14.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1495" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoG-F3zW_Ub7XKWckdyKhidiVe4o6eirenVPdbN6CJSZMRaf8Niujn_ZZrxHbGw0nwk9xVO20NC7C4YKLXcwmbCnKtYR50T-rNFYzd2w_jfCh8xurxGXfX_VPwQCjegyN2Pt8RQH_2Y7W92MV_MXGOwZthO02_61KNnnqIJ6piyfS3vd1Xn9WV0tp3/w640-h268/14.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More DAKKA!</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>With a much larger fleet and a battle formation tailor-made to counter Yi Sun-sin's own, the film's antagonist Wakisaka Yasuharu posed a significantly larger threat compared to his historical counterpart, necessitating some kind of new countermeasure from the protagonist's side. However, since Battle of Hansan Island is what made famous Yi Sun-sin's Hak Ik-jin battle formation, the director is clearly unwilling to make drastic change to his battle formation, lest the film strays too far from history and alienates Korean audience familiar with the battle (which is most of them).</div><div><br /></div><div>So the director made Yi Sun-sin come up with a novel tactic—double-loading all cannons with both cannonballs and pellets, sacrificing range and accuracy for sheer destructiveness—to complement his battle formation. Now the protagonist's side can have a new trump card against the devious tactics of their adversary, without having to alter the iconic battle formation Yi Sun-sin was so famous for. Seems like a great idea huh?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, except for the fact that this "novel" tactic isn't novel at all. Loading a cannon with both cannonball and smaller pellets was the <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/07/da-jiang-jun-pao.html" target="_blank">standard practice of Ming artillerymen</a></b>, and presumably their Joseon counterparts as well. Furthermore, it was literally impossible for the relatively weak Joseon cannons to decimate hundreds of Japanese ships with a single salvo, double-loaded or no. In fact I doubt even the significantly more powerful <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/06/hong-yi-pao-and-xi-yang-pao.html" target="_blank">Hong Yi Pao (紅夷砲)</a></b> could achieve that, as wooden ships are notoriously difficult to sink.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazmVGnMXTgVzYiEi-a2LcQGe_neqAd99SoyKwKh1f4JkkMzDzm2d4C8qSBHRodiB3KGnnnfOuFHAUFV2simuj78PoMpfx56IsciJal2r7i7ShT_-aGmUBLouXONTxN0vuAqjokByS-DBE36Rwz_WJvrfUgNNO8luxWYhYJJL-alOkc7mUpJavje5k/s1585/10.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1585" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazmVGnMXTgVzYiEi-a2LcQGe_neqAd99SoyKwKh1f4JkkMzDzm2d4C8qSBHRodiB3KGnnnfOuFHAUFV2simuj78PoMpfx56IsciJal2r7i7ShT_-aGmUBLouXONTxN0vuAqjokByS-DBE36Rwz_WJvrfUgNNO8luxWYhYJJL-alOkc7mUpJavje5k/w640-h264/10.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not gonna lie, seeing Japanese <i>gyorin-no-jin</i> went against Korean Hak Ik-jin brings me immense excitement, and in my opinion this is the high point of the second half of the film.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>Moreover, even if I am to assume these double-loaded cannons really work as advertised (realism often takes a backseat to epic battle and mayhem on the big screen), the tactic STILL wouldn't work, and proved far more detrimental to Yi Sun Sin's Hak Ik-jin than complement it.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is because in order to maximise the damage his double-loaded cannons can inflict, Yi Sun-sin ordered his entire fleet to hold fire until the very last moment. This was a grave mistake, for it created a highly unfavourable situation where only a dozen or so Joseon warships plus three turtle ships were actually engaging the massive Japanese fleet of more than one hundred ships for the majority of the battle, while the rest of the Joseon fleet simply sat and watched. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thus the antagonist Wakisaka Yasuharu was handed two viable options to victory: either he takes his sweet time to bring down the three turtle ships (no matter how powerful, three turtle ships without support could never win against a hundred Japanese warships), then sweeps away the demoralised Koreans, or he can ignore the lumbering turtle ships and charge into Joseon fleet with his <i>gyorin-no-jin</i>, splitting Joseon fleet in two in a reminiscence of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Battle of Trafalgar</a></b>. Wakisaka Yasuharu chose the second option and was actually set for victory. Unfortunately, he was the bad guy and thus destined to lose—at wit's end, the director simply forced Wakisaka Yasuharu to pick up an idiot ball at the last moment to make him lose (the protagonist MUST win no matter what after all).</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXOc5KKJYT0thRCyenyVOFze0_2ipWLreQR2xj4mR9ABAw3ooN4qxnhPMP6xs3mlunIs6OfXmxFoERBJMjGhzxtjDKvz--WOOoTjnpYl4jwhILtuND3gPCP8nNA9RnhAtfZMDH5TIPDA8kwg1JjMPey3Qo5yvvqjBnIPkei8X7-iLsmmzs_O1R7Yc/s1495/21.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="1495" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXOc5KKJYT0thRCyenyVOFze0_2ipWLreQR2xj4mR9ABAw3ooN4qxnhPMP6xs3mlunIs6OfXmxFoERBJMjGhzxtjDKvz--WOOoTjnpYl4jwhILtuND3gPCP8nNA9RnhAtfZMDH5TIPDA8kwg1JjMPey3Qo5yvvqjBnIPkei8X7-iLsmmzs_O1R7Yc/w640-h266/21.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Idiot ball caught in 4K: instead of maintaining the sharp wedge of <i>gyorin-no-jin </i>and punch a hole through Hak Ik-jin, Wakisaka Yasuharu suddenly ordered his fleet to fan out to present maximum number of targets for the Koreans to shoot at. His entire fleet was shot to pieces as a result.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Other military geekery</b></h3>There are a few more points about the battle that I would like to criticise. Personally I think these are very minor problems that won't detract from the enjoyment of the movie, but hey, I didn't blog about Ming military all these years for nothing. Pardon me but OF COURSE I will squint really hard at every nook and cranny for details.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><h4>Naval ramming</h4>While I am far from an expert in this field, the more I learned about ancient naval warfare, the more I grew skeptical of the idea that turtle ship was even usable in naval ramming, much less designed for it.<br /><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_GeDPm52YOQwWgOTy2tHYYgNl3cn70hOabtfyFZoq2fTvRGO4wfUdIlJPzjFT40ADWOT6xgC_dBJWnfnS6hyCEy5-3DAcrzXWwyiH7KrnxzmiIAclqm-YO3iWxigIM-kuNkXU1LdtPOV56-idfAIbhOLnUDXOMrX-T5zZmExX2y_pBgtVFMatROY/s1579/7.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_GeDPm52YOQwWgOTy2tHYYgNl3cn70hOabtfyFZoq2fTvRGO4wfUdIlJPzjFT40ADWOT6xgC_dBJWnfnS6hyCEy5-3DAcrzXWwyiH7KrnxzmiIAclqm-YO3iWxigIM-kuNkXU1LdtPOV56-idfAIbhOLnUDXOMrX-T5zZmExX2y_pBgtVFMatROY/w640-h268/7.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle ship ramming is possibly the biggest misconception about Yi Sun-sin's naval tactics.</td></tr></tbody></table></div>To make ramming possible at all, a strong keel to provide longitudinal strength to the hull is mandatory, as the warship must be able to absorb and withstand the tremendous force generated during the moment of collision. Furthermore, warships designed for ramming, such as the ancient galleys, tend to have a sleek profile with narrow or pointed prow, both for speed and to minimise area of contact in order to avoid unnecessary damage to the hull. Unfortunately Turtle ship had all the undesirable traits of a ramming vessel, what with being a keel-less ship with boxy hull and wide, flat prow. </div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4D8RElZP85jXgQ8A-VCVTLIUPxfQXYAO7jZB4Xmzeklg95wqak6dtZY7k12J0dT32nVHgOmvu2CtG87mN5U_YFX753Vo9zeHIM81TVRYzNwZgcvZJ-sIeh3y0qdKnyx2vIab-4SmVZi1qxdXk0YdSyqiNMzurgEFFS67p2xCLBjDqWq4N5_y-8lS/s1497/12.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="1497" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb4D8RElZP85jXgQ8A-VCVTLIUPxfQXYAO7jZB4Xmzeklg95wqak6dtZY7k12J0dT32nVHgOmvu2CtG87mN5U_YFX753Vo9zeHIM81TVRYzNwZgcvZJ-sIeh3y0qdKnyx2vIab-4SmVZi1qxdXk0YdSyqiNMzurgEFFS67p2xCLBjDqWq4N5_y-8lS/w640-h266/12.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ironically the super turtle ship with retractable dragon head and a protruded demon-head ram below the water line is far more sensibly-designed for ramming attack. This is a fictional design though.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Japanese Cannons</h4><div>Japanese cannons in the film are HUMONGOUS, matching or possibly even exceeding the size of the the renowned <i>Kunikuzushi</i> (国崩し, lit. 'Destroyer of provinces') siege cannon. Given Japan's artillery deficiency during Sengoku period, it is extremely unlikely that Wakisaka Yasuharu could procure so many heavy cannons in such a short amount of time. It is also pretty stupid, not to mention ahistorical, to mount heavy cannons beside the command tower of a warship. <br /><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxp1BFP7WWESxHda3hw9Aq3JDj_Trm9iRvaWE8xKEQXXQO1Ws7fMIpv6M0wO2WCFpednx2mv6JuYf8VpZ5FebtLP-VfpCZpNwjqUYBHgNLRDrCI3cpLyDGDSWv_6MuYHVTvq9OQbK-ORGywJXJduGONzLCMoItq5nSHv2TfoPZC7Kgcg2qZWrT2md-/s1589/17.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1589" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxp1BFP7WWESxHda3hw9Aq3JDj_Trm9iRvaWE8xKEQXXQO1Ws7fMIpv6M0wO2WCFpednx2mv6JuYf8VpZ5FebtLP-VfpCZpNwjqUYBHgNLRDrCI3cpLyDGDSWv_6MuYHVTvq9OQbK-ORGywJXJduGONzLCMoItq5nSHv2TfoPZC7Kgcg2qZWrT2md-/w640-h268/17.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Movie physics: somehow mounting heavy cannons weighing several tonnes at the tallest part of a ship has zero effect on the ships's balance or centre of gravity.</td></tr></tbody></table>Even more jarring is how the Japanese handled their cannons in the film—and I thought the <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2017/06/china-god-of-war-movie-review.html#handheldmortar" target="_blank">handheld mortar scene</a></b> is dumb enough. Surely the director understands standing directly behind a cannon while it is firing is a stupendously bad idea?</div><div><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDo2laflGF7eRzD4ygGLYP6Gbyf8VnmcemEAy-KECB9HBF_9KKC8QclswQFf2kv8-f3yXGHhb2HX-as14G_tNyyfjWYuY_-oQWSHK669LotoW3N1rS4wqc6MnfKrcg2w3FB6BnfknLDrEbpfum6tpb795gQZlFV3vU4_7XMnB9lZiWI-UMFST6yrX/s1493/13.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="1493" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDo2laflGF7eRzD4ygGLYP6Gbyf8VnmcemEAy-KECB9HBF_9KKC8QclswQFf2kv8-f3yXGHhb2HX-as14G_tNyyfjWYuY_-oQWSHK669LotoW3N1rS4wqc6MnfKrcg2w3FB6BnfknLDrEbpfum6tpb795gQZlFV3vU4_7XMnB9lZiWI-UMFST6yrX/w640-h268/13.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firing a cannon like this is a good way to get your entire rib cage pulverised.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><h4>Anchors</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9k-rE6wviqLfU1raFoHgfMgVTLkxaQhko-I3vrsSkTLR0Zy4YAZxpsVgdpuf3JlHYYTrJF_E2pmeinbGpd7eJxc0zqgjECx3y7qRTAfgVaWt2QYyIg5xf9UfPWqrDEYamvqtizXk81JLIpcfUDhlY2JHeuEyFBCKHXa3V1h4hMlnqkf9yaCAJzmy/s1494/22.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="1494" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9k-rE6wviqLfU1raFoHgfMgVTLkxaQhko-I3vrsSkTLR0Zy4YAZxpsVgdpuf3JlHYYTrJF_E2pmeinbGpd7eJxc0zqgjECx3y7qRTAfgVaWt2QYyIg5xf9UfPWqrDEYamvqtizXk81JLIpcfUDhlY2JHeuEyFBCKHXa3V1h4hMlnqkf9yaCAJzmy/w640-h266/22.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Both Panokseon and Geobukseon (turtle ship) mount their anchors directly in front of the prow.</td></tr></tbody></table>It is odd that none of the ships in the film have an anchor, despite the otherwise great attention to details. While not a particularly serious issue, for me this is a tell-tale sign that these ships are all CGI, and a little immersion-breaking.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Instantaneous communication</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8SGkbBtlEc14tNQQ2RSMRq_Febmcic1q0yTJeo59M7c_woLlsqJAR8WguYWwsvDU5CR9LlHQZDsnZehYkNm0PZ1j0mU5piyfsy_udVCDFiw7OIQR-ANLandDRU_iweCz_-_4jecRUOZHwluawMhy4CRO7DHcXKTGTwv8t2Jhghqtc1wrOrEVOa0bG/s1587/2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="1587" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8SGkbBtlEc14tNQQ2RSMRq_Febmcic1q0yTJeo59M7c_woLlsqJAR8WguYWwsvDU5CR9LlHQZDsnZehYkNm0PZ1j0mU5piyfsy_udVCDFiw7OIQR-ANLandDRU_iweCz_-_4jecRUOZHwluawMhy4CRO7DHcXKTGTwv8t2Jhghqtc1wrOrEVOa0bG/w640-h266/2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flag signals, cool.</td></tr></tbody></table>I really appreciate that the director devoted some screen time to show how communication happens between ships, with drums, flags, and in one case even kites being used to relay orders. Unfortunately, while initially depicted fairly realistically, communications between ships become drastically faster as the battle picks up pace, and by the end of the film both protagonist and antagonist had become essentially telepathic.<br /><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Nationalistic undertone and inflated self-importance</b></h3><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrRpnj1vPFdhUlmwSIv_hP0p5-DCSEWczWei1I8wdOtTrUQvlP0dat0-Pt1AOE6LCU3C9gxOYZyZXMX-dWanY_fxAMZkhZf4aKN6NvR-YkYZIUuhsxWvMfdsvhn0Rz99vmX6u4ZjxaROHIQeikpPAJszPgvMn1SRELInZMPGafWOFj-sBWCyGWxyz/s1495/16.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1495" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrRpnj1vPFdhUlmwSIv_hP0p5-DCSEWczWei1I8wdOtTrUQvlP0dat0-Pt1AOE6LCU3C9gxOYZyZXMX-dWanY_fxAMZkhZf4aKN6NvR-YkYZIUuhsxWvMfdsvhn0Rz99vmX6u4ZjxaROHIQeikpPAJszPgvMn1SRELInZMPGafWOFj-sBWCyGWxyz/w640-h268/16.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tattered banner of righteous army is a nice touch of symbolism about a just war. </td></tr></tbody></table><div>Imjin War is portrayed as just war, a struggle between the righteous and the wicked, of good and evil, and of everyday Korean people against foreign invaders. The last one is part of the reason why the director forcibly added the otherwise unrelated Battle of Ungchi Pass into the narrative—to allow for the participation of citizen militia in the defence of their home country. This is not a criticism by the way, as they are par of the course for a nationalistic film. There is nothing wrong with depicting a defensive war as just.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yet the film goes beyond even nationalism and into the territory of chauvinism with the inclusion of the oft-repeated myth about a second Japanese supply route at the west coast of Korea (which never existed), as well as Hideyoshi's plan to bypass Korea entirely and launch a direct naval invasion on China's Tianjin city, which he secretly entrusted Wakisaka Yasuharu to carry out. The sheer insanity of this fictitious plan beggars belief. Not only is Tianjin thousands of kilometres away from South Korea, it also sits securely inside <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohai_Bay" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Bohai Bay</b></a> and guarded by strategically important Shandong peninsula and Liaodong peninsula. A direct naval invasion of Tianjin means that Japanese fleet would have to sail for weeks on open sea without any stopping point, into a gigantic death trap that was the Bohai Bay, and without any hope of resupply. Lack of drinkable water alone would've decimated most of the fleet.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1P55nY7VFhV2kxHKSc93zgeMAwtgg-y4LeY7PhUeM4A_YuPdQsNlVVVmEEh04AExmXc43yHVp3yys3pnF10dGHpVDARbPVkIiXDzmfLhUt5mqopQ3Ye0uZsDDI4TeZ4wIU18MmxWmiYDqaM5zhm6G2cMBHwS3S6N0MkhJgH4SRDH0wduJ1WyxxuEf/s1589/18.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="659" data-original-width="1589" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1P55nY7VFhV2kxHKSc93zgeMAwtgg-y4LeY7PhUeM4A_YuPdQsNlVVVmEEh04AExmXc43yHVp3yys3pnF10dGHpVDARbPVkIiXDzmfLhUt5mqopQ3Ye0uZsDDI4TeZ4wIU18MmxWmiYDqaM5zhm6G2cMBHwS3S6N0MkhJgH4SRDH0wduJ1WyxxuEf/w640-h266/18.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nah, China would be just fine. </td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div>Yet the implausibility of the plan isn't easily noticed, especially by lay audience, while the underlying message is made abundantly clear: it is not enough for the target audience to be basked in a sense of national pride, the film also suggests that they are entitled to gratitude merely because Korea shielded others from a terrible fate borne of their own imagination.</div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-64799748394564516362022-11-08T18:17:00.003-08:002022-12-31T20:54:15.618-08:00(Patreon post) Auxiliary armours of Qing brigandine<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/auxiliary-of-74007966" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="3482" data-original-width="4001" height="556" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIWrxTiO7LR6lj9GluMmAuqi7XauVl1rhqmx6rf17-A-l53uyXxV1wvoZ0kC64S0HcitP3JWRLE2VDtNtSzlWuw88LSZuy9UT63tkN8McbpejeEUl3kMR9gzWXytnN0WQpxTFNACslewFZMbPTOl_GREa31_r65e9klrol6iVkiBwfJGaW6qocSQtw/w640-h556/japanese_armour_weakness.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>This is a companion article to my <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/flaws-and-gaps-72269459" target="_blank"><b>Japanese armour</b></a> post post, exploring various lesser-known auxiliary armours of Qing brigandine. As of now, it is available to my patrons for one month early, but it is opened to public now!</p><p>The article can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/auxiliary-of-74007966" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary" target="_blank"><b>Patreon</b></a>!<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-3971475268764896112022-10-30T01:13:00.005-07:002023-12-21T21:00:32.652-08:00Niao Chuan (鳥船)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5AFUduX3JJH6iEITNPdDDWGWSM9wQ2qzQ_dT4_lP41H6Ovd2qiAdGHmjvy2hHuRLJV-u-LpkUeZWzsTqZFTEQ8WfGGyT2BY_mz3fMF9CF9-_xsEYV9IJmjGfu5_Pyck1Zl_WWJ2c223Z_8E8vIs3OfowFzDcQspAhoeFMS_LMpMWxSqhBlc3eVXS/s992/e84f0ca8fa7f4af0a7cb7a54ec66e3f8.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="992" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5AFUduX3JJH6iEITNPdDDWGWSM9wQ2qzQ_dT4_lP41H6Ovd2qiAdGHmjvy2hHuRLJV-u-LpkUeZWzsTqZFTEQ8WfGGyT2BY_mz3fMF9CF9-_xsEYV9IJmjGfu5_Pyck1Zl_WWJ2c223Z_8E8vIs3OfowFzDcQspAhoeFMS_LMpMWxSqhBlc3eVXS/w640-h442/e84f0ca8fa7f4af0a7cb7a54ec66e3f8.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A replica Zhejiang Niao Chuan built in 2003. Although seaworthy, the replica's sails appear much smaller than historical ships.</td></tr></tbody></table>The last of the "Four Great Ancient Ships" of China, Niao Chuan is perhaps the least known of the four, owing to its confusing history and relatively short (but no less crucial) period of military significance. <div><br /></div><div>Niao Chuan first came into prominence in the early 17th century, during a period when a beleaguered Ming Dynasty was facing unprecedented threats from the sea due to the rise of powerful Chinese pirate lords and arrival of Dutch East India Company with their powerful <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/jia-ban-chuan.html" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">great ships</a>. Being one of the few ship types capable of meeting the new challenge, Niao Chuan quickly displaced older types of war junks and became the premier warship favoured by Ming navy and pirate lords alike, and later also adopted by the ascending Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, its heyday ended almost as quickly as it came. After the downfall of Ming Dynasty, <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Zeelandia" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Dutch were evicted from Formosa by Ming loyalist Koxinga</a></b>, <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Penghu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">whose kingdom he founded was in turn defeated by the Qing</a></b>. With the naval threats subsiding, Niao Chuan was also retired from military service, although it continued to play an important role as an armed merchant ship long after.<div><a name='more'></a><br />
<p></p><h3 id="niaochuanorigin"><b>Confusing origin </b></h3><div>The ship known as Niao Chuan first showed up in historical texts in the mid-16th century as <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html#kailangchuan" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">one of the smaller class of Fu Chuan (福船)</a>, although it gradually increased in size in the following decades, eventually outgrew even the largest Fu Chuan. Ming period Niao Chuan was described as having a "swollen" (i.e. tumblehome) yet slender hull with low sheer, small and pointed prow, as well as using sails, rowing, and <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stern_sculling" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yuloh stern sculling</a></b> for propulsion (although rowing was later retired). It was known to be a fast and nimble ship capable of remaining mobile regardless of wind and sea conditions, and even said to be able to keep up with small speedy ships like <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/08/sha-chuan-and-ying-chuan.html" target="_blank">Sha Chuan (沙船)</a></b> despite being significantly larger.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite Niao Chuan's early appearance in recorded history, there are still many confusing and often conflicting theories regarding its origin and form (probably due to the fact that there clearly exists a distinct shipbuilding tradition from Zhejiang, with archaeological finds predating Ming period). Many believe Niao Chuan evolved/branched out from<b> </b>Fu Chuan into a distinct ship type, while others maintain that Niao Chuan actually descended from <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/09/guang-chuan.html" target="_blank">Guang Chuan (廣船)</a></b>, believing that Guang Chuan's other name, <b>Wu Cao</b> (烏槽, lit. 'Black junk'), is actually a typo of <b>Niao Cao</b> (鳥艚, lit. 'Bird junk') caused by Qing-era misprint of Ming treatises due to high similarity between Chinese character <b>Wu</b> (烏) and <b>Niao</b> (鳥). It is also varyingly seen as an "in-between" form of the northern Sha Chuan and southern Fu Chuan, or a hybrid of white-coloured Fu Chua and dark-hulled Guang Chuan.</div><div><br /></div>
<h4 id="niaochuandistinct"><b>Niao Chuan as a distinct ship type</b></h4>
<div>Regardless of origin theories, the commonly accepted definition nowadays is that Niao Chuan is simply another name for <b>Zhe Chuan</b> (浙船, lit. '<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhejiang" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Zhejiang</a></b> ship'), that is, a distinct ship type/shipbuilding tradition found in Zhejiang. Niao Chuan is similar to Fu Chuan in most respects, although it has a more slender U- or S-shaped hull (or a hull that is V-shaped at the prow but gradually transitions into U-shape towards the stern) with very obvious curvature, a narrow, pointed prow with a flat stempost that flares towards the top, as well as diagonally fitted open <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms_(A-L)#bulwark" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bulwark</a> </b>(Niao Chuan's prow appears as a Y-shape when viewed from the front). Some Niao Chuan are also fitted with leeboards.</div><div><br /></div><h4 id="postupgradefuchuan"><b>Possibility of Niao Chuan being the "post-upgrade" Fu Chuan</b></h4><div><div>(<i>Disclaimer: this part is my own theorising based on admittedly very limited data. More research will be needed.</i>)</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, current definition may not be applicable to the historical Niao Chuan that were in widespread use for much of the Ming and Qing period. The period of which Niao Chuan replaced older Fu Chuan more or less coincide with the <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html#gundecktransition" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">transition of tower ship into gun deck-based design</a> and the obsolescence of Fu Chuan classification, which hints at the possibility of Niao Chuan not being a distinct ship type, but what became of Fu Chuan after the transition. In other words, Fu Chuan evolved into Niao Chuan rather than the other way around, and the ship type now recognised as Fu Chuan might actually be called Niao Chuan historically.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKI8x7kf0h2j1Ld3ojXOWSQtxwQGWqXuRdfC1DDllim3wC6tZFI-qgaSyg0BxKnxY2BPHH5_2WM6N6QUeKO7VZD7AssVN2BJ4gKrQ9lhwJgMKYIUalXj6AqguyVyp4M88SEvabYVT-xW74FRicYpYQojohg069kTTlEh-uU3rLVy-4puw2anEszYSq/s6177/Niaochuan_over_the_years.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2431" data-original-width="6177" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKI8x7kf0h2j1Ld3ojXOWSQtxwQGWqXuRdfC1DDllim3wC6tZFI-qgaSyg0BxKnxY2BPHH5_2WM6N6QUeKO7VZD7AssVN2BJ4gKrQ9lhwJgMKYIUalXj6AqguyVyp4M88SEvabYVT-xW74FRicYpYQojohg069kTTlEh-uU3rLVy-4puw2anEszYSq/w640-h252/Niaochuan_over_the_years.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: A Kai Lang Chuan circa 1540s. Middle: A Niao Chuan circa 1600s. Right: Japanese illustration of a merchant Niao Chuan visiting Nagasaki port circa 1700s. Ship images are taken from 'San Cai Tu Hui (《三才圖會》)', 'Bing Lu (《兵錄》)' and 'Nagasaki-shi Seihen (『長崎志正編 』)', cleaned and merged together by myself.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>There are several other lines of evidence also lend credence to the theory. Notably, after Qing Dynasty decisively defeated the Ming rump state of Tungning in 1683, it found itself no longer having other use for the powerful Niao Chuan warship, and began converting its Niao Chuan fleet into the cheaper <b>Gan Zeng Chuan</b> (趕繒船, lit. 'Trawling net ship') to cut cost. Since Gan Zeng Chuan is widely recognised as a Fu Chuan-type warship, it stands to reason that Niao Chuan, which is convertible to Gan Zeng Chuan, is also a Fu Chuan-type vessel. Moreover, Niao Chuan was frequently associated with Fujian in Qing records, while ship types more associated with Zhejiang were <b>Dan Chuan</b> (蛋/蜑/疍船, lit. 'Egg ship', a type of flat-bottomed cargo vessel commonly used to transport salt along Grand Canal during Qing period. Also refers to the ship-dwellings of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanka_people" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tanka</a></b> people) and <b>San Bu Xiang Chuan</b> (三不像船, lit.'Three unlikes ship', a hybrid design incorporating elements from three different ships) rather than Niao Chuan. Besides, historical records from Japan, such as Nagasaki-shi (『長崎志』) that recorded various Chinese merchant junks that visited Nagasaki port, also associated Niao Chuan with Fujian, not to mention a preserved Japanese illustration of Niao Chuan shows little in common with its Zhejiang counterpart.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Other blog posts in my Four Great Ancient Ships series:</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html">Fu Chuan (福船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/09/guang-chuan.html">Guang Chuan (廣船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/08/sha-chuan-and-ying-chuan.html">Sha Chuan (沙船)</a></b></div><div><b>Niao Chuan (鳥船)<br /></b></div></div></div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-79873023151102215202022-10-10T02:55:00.028-07:002023-02-21T22:30:42.623-08:00Fu Chuan (福船)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-9fT_KWsSAcxpLAVVXrRWG4flAzuTktffXGrzK1lyzjdrRyqIZS4zooCxVWLYuws8PfcOWWzSyU-ZdAGQ1SlzQyhHrvefDhFBmHw3AktnpzrbbKnPqCotr5XFjyNceiJb1hxc6YhNyaX38zRQYlZdHi3yWjUKH8GAWN53zhzsZ9Ss7lkUqKhjVWt/s910/ezgif-2-b74fdb05ea.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="910" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2-9fT_KWsSAcxpLAVVXrRWG4flAzuTktffXGrzK1lyzjdrRyqIZS4zooCxVWLYuws8PfcOWWzSyU-ZdAGQ1SlzQyhHrvefDhFBmHw3AktnpzrbbKnPqCotr5XFjyNceiJb1hxc6YhNyaX38zRQYlZdHi3yWjUKH8GAWN53zhzsZ9Ss7lkUqKhjVWt/w640-h418/ezgif-2-b74fdb05ea.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A replica Fu Chuan, claimed to be 1:1 in scale, recently launched in Quanzhou. Its flat V-shaped prow is visible in this photo.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Fu Chuan, also known as <b>Fu Jian Chuan</b> (福建船, lit. 'Fujian ship') and <b>Bai Cao</b> (白艚, lit. 'White junk'), is a type of sailing ship originated from <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fujian</a></b>. It is the most widely used and well-known of the "Four Great Ancient Ships" of China, and formed the backbone and workhorse of Ming navy.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>Fu Chuan is an oceangoing sailing ship with a S-shaped hull with both high sheer forward and high sheer aft, a flat prow without a stempost that appears as a flat V-shape when viewed directly from the front, as well as a flat stern. It is equipped with a retractable unbalanced rudder shaped like a tall parallelogram, and has a deck that widens towards the stern. Fu Chuan's junk sails are typically rectangular in shape. Unique to the ship type, some large, oceangoing Fu Chuan are designed with the capability to quickly swap out primary rudder with a smaller secondary one in order to traverse shallow water, and many Fu Chuan are also fitted with mountings for additional Yuloh sculling oar-cum-auxiliary rudder for more maneuverability.</div><div><br /></div><div>While not as tough as <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/09/guang-chuan.html" target="_blank"><b>Guang Chuan (廣船</b>)</a>, Fu Chuan is still sturdy enough to overpower most other types of warships it will likely encounter. It is also cheaper and far more suitable for offshore sailing than Guang Chuan (the deep V hull of Guang Chuan is less stable and susceptible to rolling and banking, especially at lower speed), making it a superior choice for a general purpose warship.</div><div><br /></div><h3 id="fuchuanclassification"><b>Classification of Fu Chuan</b></h3><div>During Ming period military Fu Chuan were divided into six different classes based on their size. Mark 1 and Mark 2, known simply as Fu Chuan or <b>Da Fu Chuan</b> (大福船, lit. 'Great Fu Chuan'), were considered capital ships. Mark 3 <b>Shao Chuan</b> (哨船, lit. 'Sentry ship') or <b>Cao Pie Chuan</b> (草撇船, possible translation may be 'straw cushion ship'), Mark 4 <b>Dong Chuan</b> (冬船, lit. 'Winter ship') or <b>Hai Cang Chuan</b> (海滄船, lit. '<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haicang_District" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Haicang</a></b> ship') were medium-sized ships and served as mainline combat vessels. Mark 5 <b>Niao Chuan</b> (鳥船, lit. 'Bird ship') and Mark 6 <b>Kuai Chuan</b> (快船, lit. 'Fast ship'), collectively known as <b>Kai Lang Chuan</b> (開浪船, lit. 'Wave-cutting ship'), were the smallest classes, and served in a scouting role. Nevertheless, this classification fell out of use by the tail end of Ming Dynasty as older designs were supplanted by new generation of Fu Chuan such as <b>Gan Zeng Chuan</b> (趕繒船, lit. 'Trawling net ship') and <b>Tong An Suo Chuan</b> (同安梭船, lit. '<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong'an_District" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tong'an</a></b> shuttle ship').</div><div><br /></div><h4 id="fuchuan"><b>Da Fu Chuan (大福船)</b></h4><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0AzEQFExCNruVKq2shaIT8LWEwHGmyTemhcUnjHBVnvoXHVdVPaKXkd4Bn1Ivj8j6vE0bBPPUCuDLmccWPzwce6Yh4Qa6LolDYRr0G8iuidXgP-IVNW52t3N6WHjoK5k2um45iiCoyTmRQBacn54hvVuN2gD2VCfislqPNQQSBc6r6Zh0du9v3VkR/s2645/da_fu_chuan.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2645" data-original-width="1829" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0AzEQFExCNruVKq2shaIT8LWEwHGmyTemhcUnjHBVnvoXHVdVPaKXkd4Bn1Ivj8j6vE0bBPPUCuDLmccWPzwce6Yh4Qa6LolDYRr0G8iuidXgP-IVNW52t3N6WHjoK5k2um45iiCoyTmRQBacn54hvVuN2gD2VCfislqPNQQSBc6r6Zh0du9v3VkR/w442-h640/da_fu_chuan.png" width="442" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Da Fu Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. Note the prominent three-storey aftercastle, as well as superstructure built on top the hull.</td></tr></tbody></table></b>A Mark 1 Fu Chuan is about 9 <i>zhang</i> (28.8 metre) in length, while the slightly smaller Mark 2 Fu Chuan is about 8 <i>zhang</i> (25.6 metre) in length. Though the largest of its class, Fu Chuan isn't a particularly huge ship, although it is formidable nonetheless.<br /><br />A Fu Chuan has two decks and a superstructure built on its upper deck. The lowest level of the ship is used to store stones, bricks and roof tiles (as ballast). Next above is the berth deck where the accommodation for ship crew is located. Above the berth deck is the upper deck (topmost deck of a ship), which is almost entirely covered by an enclosed superstructure made of wooden planks and reinforced by bamboo. The superstructure is the primary fighting compartment of Fu Chuan, allowing soldiers to fight from inside it or on its battlemented roof (battlement is not depicted in the illustration above), although it also houses the ship's galley (kitchen) and drinking water storage, and both sails and anchors are operated from here as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the Fu Chuan's stern, a three-storey tall aftercastle raises above the superstructure. The bridge is most likely located here, as this arrangement confers many advantages, namely it places the captain and the helmsman within shouting distance of each other, allows the captain to have a full view of the entire ship thus making tight turns much easier, and is sheltered from large waves washing over entire ship deck during adverse weather.</div><div><br /></div><div><h4 id="caopiechuan"><b>Cao Pie Chuan (草撇船)</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzL8Fl_nRNMBZL3imPWCAfD-keGjx3PDM9gxQL9IRid-byl3-FyS7QcKMP5LyCdeLz2QqjpDnvC-4v7r5hFvvpIiy302DhmTYp3n5o1A0OCfDAlml_rpeh9ffm1Y0npihpnzBYSKFL2GQKB5C3YBVwcyYLlMMS55TJZ8w8HoEqZ-1ZOdg5c9Q3W23N/s2633/cao_pie_chuan.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2633" data-original-width="1813" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzL8Fl_nRNMBZL3imPWCAfD-keGjx3PDM9gxQL9IRid-byl3-FyS7QcKMP5LyCdeLz2QqjpDnvC-4v7r5hFvvpIiy302DhmTYp3n5o1A0OCfDAlml_rpeh9ffm1Y0npihpnzBYSKFL2GQKB5C3YBVwcyYLlMMS55TJZ8w8HoEqZ-1ZOdg5c9Q3W23N/w440-h640/cao_pie_chuan.png" width="440" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Cao Pie Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. The aftercastle of Cao Pie Chuan appears to be reduced to just one storey.</td></tr></tbody></table>Mark 3 Fu Chuan, or Cao Pie Chuan, is a slightly downsized version of larger Fu Chuan, as well as a versatile warship that performs equally well in battle, escort, and pursuit role. Due to its smaller size and lighter weight, Cao Pie Chuan can traverse shallower water than its larger cousins, and retains mobility even with minimal winds, making it an excellent littoral warship.</div><div><br /></div><div><h4 id="haicangchuan">Hai Cang Chuan (海滄船)</h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7-RcWE_3uGcWw-t7ATvUvbBqnEO8uov3pBsy9Qcm5QWF340AE2dhNz1zU_83vwjBl-rld3hMZqfsnNCG8z_uaNgF5Ktug4nIn3PBc5YiUaNpBWBXIvSQfX9ITtndMpjURcGcWymaB7dhh7qW4Xvb3tqz1uRaBUc7SYip5LmPGxjUxIVvOhvaOZgW/s2629/hai_cang_chuan.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2629" data-original-width="1825" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7-RcWE_3uGcWw-t7ATvUvbBqnEO8uov3pBsy9Qcm5QWF340AE2dhNz1zU_83vwjBl-rld3hMZqfsnNCG8z_uaNgF5Ktug4nIn3PBc5YiUaNpBWBXIvSQfX9ITtndMpjURcGcWymaB7dhh7qW4Xvb3tqz1uRaBUc7SYip5LmPGxjUxIVvOhvaOZgW/w444-h640/hai_cang_chuan.png" width="444" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Hai Cang Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. Hai Cang Chuan appears to only have an open-topped fighting platform in place of the aftercastle of its larger cousins.</td></tr></tbody></table>Mark 4 Fu Chuan, or Hai Cang Chuan, is simply a Cao Pie Chuan without protective bamboo fencing.</div><div><br /><h4 id="kailangchuan"><b>Kai Lang Chuan (開浪船)</b></h4></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelWPuFvgUE5FmwaATl7FZSvT5Y1h6mlCmi-1F3U-VDyRZt7tC-HMfJtDm43YmCOQ9xTe2VVm7Pnu_uBzPOYquRIRNjfAJoB8gxf99cIPVEUt7rmuaM9rlvezaQFcEyzuqf8xOUB65-hqhY4jkMQh8DTZKQekliaAuBaencN7wEN3zcaT-ccD8fLC5/s2295/kai_lang_chuan_3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2295" data-original-width="1465" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelWPuFvgUE5FmwaATl7FZSvT5Y1h6mlCmi-1F3U-VDyRZt7tC-HMfJtDm43YmCOQ9xTe2VVm7Pnu_uBzPOYquRIRNjfAJoB8gxf99cIPVEUt7rmuaM9rlvezaQFcEyzuqf8xOUB65-hqhY4jkMQh8DTZKQekliaAuBaencN7wEN3zcaT-ccD8fLC5/w408-h640/kai_lang_chuan_3.jpg" width="408" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Kai Lang Chuan, from 'San Cai Tu Hui (《三才圖會》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Mark 5 Niao Chuan and Mark 6 Kuai Chuan, collectively known as Kai Lang Chuan, are the smallest of the Fu Chuan class. They can be distinguished from their larger cousins by their pointed (rather than flat) prow, hybrid sail-and-oar propulsion (although oars were eventually phased out), and use of steering oar. Too small to mount the protective superstructure of larger Fu Chuan, Niao Chuan and Kuai Chuan make poor frontline combat vessels, although their speed and maneuverability allow them to excel in harassing and scouting role. They are also used to collect enemy heads from floating dead bodies after the battle.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<h3 id="gundecktransition"><b>Transition to gun deck-based warship</b></h3><div>For much of China's history, the principal Chinese warship design was the so-called "<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louchuan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tower ship</a></b>"—a warship which primary fighting compartment is a large and enclosed superstructure built <b>on top</b> of its hull. The design offers excellent protection to ship crew and fully capitalises on the superior projectile weapon technology (namely <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/09/Ming-Dynasty-crossbow.html" target="_blank">crossbow</a></b>, <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/search/label/trebuchet" target="_blank"><b>trebuchet</b></a>, and <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/search/label/bomb" target="_blank">gunpowder bomb</a></b>) employed by the Chinese, not to mention increased height of the ship also makes it difficult to board. </div><div><br /></div><div>Originally designed for riverine warfare between various Chinese warring states, tower ship was so successful that it saw continuous use even after more seaworthy hull designs were discovered and sails replaced oars as the primary means of propulsion. Ming period Fu Chuan was essentially the 16th century iteration of tower ship, and actually wouldn't look very different from contemporary tower ship-equivalents such as Japan's <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atakebune" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">atakebune (安宅船)</a></b> and Korea's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panokseon" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">panokseon (板屋船)</a> save for the fact that it was smaller and more compact, lacked the banks of oars of the other two, and had aftercastle in place of a forward command tower. In fact, Ming tower ship was the direct inspiration that led to the the creation of panokseon, and likely influenced the development of Japanese warship as well.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFmFT6YOEXqvaTWLij6BPytbctIDZR2x4ivut1RmWF-ToUnTVej7R89em9rV4S4X-CskFjt9U_D_8pWfuUSe-kTLOej7XyXJudigDvy0XUdk7oz0KaZoIICI3j2jxn_tTaCidJJ1tcgvnKt-gxAdhSks5pUDDZjgg5gXusGISF6_wie2dnZg1gHld/s5807/Fu_Chuan_Comparison_New.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2546" data-original-width="5807" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFmFT6YOEXqvaTWLij6BPytbctIDZR2x4ivut1RmWF-ToUnTVej7R89em9rV4S4X-CskFjt9U_D_8pWfuUSe-kTLOej7XyXJudigDvy0XUdk7oz0KaZoIICI3j2jxn_tTaCidJJ1tcgvnKt-gxAdhSks5pUDDZjgg5gXusGISF6_wie2dnZg1gHld/w640-h280/Fu_Chuan_Comparison_New.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: A classical oar-driven tower ship. Middle: A Fu Chuan circa 1540s, still retaining the tower ship design. Right: A Fu Chuan circa 1640s, now without superstructure. Ship images are taken from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)' and 'Jing Guo Xiong Lue (《經國雄略》)', cleaned and merged together by myself.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Nevertheless, as the Chinese began to mount more and <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/06/hong-yi-pao-and-xi-yang-pao.html" target="_blank">heavier guns</a></b> onto their warships, the primary weakness of tower ship, namely instability caused by high centre of gravity, became increasingly intolerable. Echoing similar development in Europe, Chinese war junks also underwent drastic revamps and changed into a gun deck-based design. Gone was the tall superstructure, and the primary fighting compartment of the new warship—its gun deck—was now directly built <b>into</b> the hull. While it is difficult to pin down when the transition began (it most likely happened during very late 16th century or very early 17th century), the process certainly took off with with resounding speed, as by early Qing period virtually all Chinese war junks had changed into the quintessential form still recognisable today, while tower ships all but disappeared.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Other blog posts in my Four Great Ancient Ships series:</b></div><div><b>Fu Chuan (福船)</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/09/guang-chuan.html" target="">Guang Chuan (廣船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/08/sha-chuan-and-ying-chuan.html" target="">Sha Chuan (沙船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/niao-chuan.html">Niao Chuan (鳥船)</a></b></div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-37965964114458839212022-09-27T20:46:00.003-07:002022-11-10T18:08:07.711-08:00(Patreon post) Flaws and gaps of samurai armour<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/flaws-and-gaps-72269459" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="3482" data-original-width="4001" height="556" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06KZS3Plt368Z9K5eQUk7L128s6sJ2ADeE31mLnLJPKaq9YdHWtdV7CIVyp2LWSIbQC8SHxiT-cQoIHkGfTgR-bjkFpQHJZci3UgzfHw7SyZVtxzyR0T6-bcjjhFo4s99zoA7MSUyrAXaOPSD_NBYk_cclEmn6DrDvAaFWNNfgXTDzbMURZzIh_Sl/w640-h556/japanese_armour_weakness.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>This article is a continuation of my previous <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/08/ming-qing-japanese-armour-comparison.html" target="_blank"><b>armour comparison blog post</b></a>, exploring various gaps and weakness of Japanese armour. The article is available to my patrons one month early, but it is open to public now!<div><br /></div><div>The article can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/flaws-and-gaps-72269459" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary" target="_blank">Patreon</a></b>!<p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-57519740666526898542022-09-15T00:09:00.051-07:002024-02-20T20:27:26.902-08:00Guang Chuan (廣船)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzo5UiRN8kQ04NLYKCuD101PAw7qiTYPqJooCCFJ1DSLEQCUGzm_1Aw4kGcPmZDGwlW0rMLVqJOHQDs8lga5Xvx3Qfkv2FAyigdKOZ1IyBYG7kYfmOaafgUhpZffZllg0OpOlZHsFdTbLcYQhdXFcixB2Q84sgwDEsGorxhz3ytRiDKKHcAD_rl0nN/s960/13170824y28x.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="960" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzo5UiRN8kQ04NLYKCuD101PAw7qiTYPqJooCCFJ1DSLEQCUGzm_1Aw4kGcPmZDGwlW0rMLVqJOHQDs8lga5Xvx3Qfkv2FAyigdKOZ1IyBYG7kYfmOaafgUhpZffZllg0OpOlZHsFdTbLcYQhdXFcixB2Q84sgwDEsGorxhz3ytRiDKKHcAD_rl0nN/w640-h448/13170824y28x.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jin Hua Xing (金華興), a one hundred years old Guangdong cargo-turned-fishing junk and last of its kind, which regrettably sunk in 2008. Although the shipwreck was quickly salvaged and supposedly sent for restoration, it was never heard from ever since.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Guang Chuan, also known as <b>Guang Dong Chuan</b> (廣東船, lit. 'Guangdong ship'), <b>Wu Cao</b> (烏艚, lit. 'Black junk') and several other names, is a type of sailing ship originated from <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangdong" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Guangdong</a></b> and commonly used across <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingnan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lingnan</a></b> region. It is one of the "Four Great Ancient Ships" of China.</div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdPVDRJDDZyEghQ5ypwbTPgCwOgFrRTU-L0wp9colqT5N4TZZbq_kaIpuxqbuaaVordjjhBhzR96HB7b8ahVfZS5gM3RBkv2Dx_iADbmO6ftv6HlRphyskviepq9kFurHZmF9Lk99cgo3bTnkA6_LgUTDAvqZ0v36s8M_QcMjPTuPadOTVU5uXK9d/s2363/guangchuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2363" data-original-width="1619" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdPVDRJDDZyEghQ5ypwbTPgCwOgFrRTU-L0wp9colqT5N4TZZbq_kaIpuxqbuaaVordjjhBhzR96HB7b8ahVfZS5gM3RBkv2Dx_iADbmO6ftv6HlRphyskviepq9kFurHZmF9Lk99cgo3bTnkA6_LgUTDAvqZ0v36s8M_QcMjPTuPadOTVU5uXK9d/w438-h640/guangchuan.jpg" width="438" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Guang Chuan. Note the outrigger that extends beyond the width of the hull. From 'Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Guang Chuan is an oceangoing sailing ship with a deep V-shaped hull with low sheer forward but high sheer aft, a sharply pointed prow with a highly visible straight stempost that appears as a T-shape when viewed directly from the front, as well as a rounded stern. It is typically equipped with a fenestrated rudder (a rudder perforated with arrays of diamond-shaped holes for easier handling, with minimal loss of function), which is unique among all Chinese junks, as well as extremely large, fan-shaped junk sails. Many Guang Chuan have large and stocky pinky sterns, some are also fitted with a daggerboard to reduce keeling and leeway. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3n2Eb5L8NsanC7P6LtBZhVExTXhegfD8PAooXEsNJKe59JtqgNe1g-tFzxOWeU9jXLIi7K4qmU4tHkLoGAx_X2iYTGCziymFvje-ee4HFhFpOn___T7zv5TPSCKzqJWLS3dsQHdpZBDvcHSYVJCN8N8x9tL0VOpVWB64IX680MRtbzsLLieL5JZH/s2402/jianweichuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2402" data-original-width="1583" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI3n2Eb5L8NsanC7P6LtBZhVExTXhegfD8PAooXEsNJKe59JtqgNe1g-tFzxOWeU9jXLIi7K4qmU4tHkLoGAx_X2iYTGCziymFvje-ee4HFhFpOn___T7zv5TPSCKzqJWLS3dsQHdpZBDvcHSYVJCN8N8x9tL0VOpVWB64IX680MRtbzsLLieL5JZH/w422-h640/jianweichuan.jpg" width="422" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A regional variant of Guang Chuan from <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinhui_District" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Xinhui District</a></b>, known as <b>Jian Wei Chuan</b> (尖尾船, lit. 'Pointed-tail ship'). Note its wall-less shed. From 'Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>As shown in the illustrations, Ming period Guang Chuan were equipped with oars as an auxiliary means of propulsion, although these seem to disappear come the Qing period. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7mzXQ-ogMKlPqgXLBxTTcDBN4H_K09zZicGaAyqdCmJ10qkQmYMg1ip_JWqLnkaquXq16hXAiGMLgnxdJfyfXrf572JbrnrL4LIPnKWaUoJMMNgolwKSh0xvarOJwOlfcBPox3Lf8V5-Os7qctiw5Bg9uR5eyNKA7U0AtgM-WF2BvURKivc6Ykma/s1438/datouchuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1438" data-original-width="917" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7mzXQ-ogMKlPqgXLBxTTcDBN4H_K09zZicGaAyqdCmJ10qkQmYMg1ip_JWqLnkaquXq16hXAiGMLgnxdJfyfXrf572JbrnrL4LIPnKWaUoJMMNgolwKSh0xvarOJwOlfcBPox3Lf8V5-Os7qctiw5Bg9uR5eyNKA7U0AtgM-WF2BvURKivc6Ykma/w408-h640/datouchuan.jpg" width="408" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another regional variant of Guang Chuan from Dongguan, known as <b>Da Tou Chuan</b> (大頭船, lit. 'Big-headed ship'). Note its prominent fore- and aftercastle, and complete lack of hull superstructure. From 'San Cai Tu Hui (《三才圖會》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>As warship, Guang Chuan is generally larger and significantly tougher than <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html" target="_blank">Fu Chuan (福船)</a></b>, its closely-related cousin from Fujian, and will soundly pulverise the latter in a ramming attack. This is due to the fact that major structural components of Guang Chuan are made of tough and durable hardwood such as teak and Ceylon ironwood imported from Southeast Asia, whereas Fu Chuan is built from lighter, locally-sourced materials. Thanks to these durable materials, Guang Chuan is less maintenance intensive than Fu Chuan, although on the flip side it is more expensive to build and difficult to repair if damaged. </div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Evolution into the ultimate war junk</h3><div>For all its durability, Guang Chuan did have an oft-criticised flaw: lack of protective superstructure. In stark contrast to the fully enclosed and heavily reinforced superstructure of Fu Chuan, Guang Chuan was only fitted with a low, wall-less, bamboo-roofed shed that barely provided any protection to ship crew, not to mention vulnerable to fire and could even hinder crew mobility due to low height. Luckily, the flaw wasn't a serious one and was easy to remedy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ironically, just when Fujianese shipwrights were <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html#gundecktransition" target="_blank">building warships without superstructure to make space for heavier guns and broadside tactics</a></b>, Guangdong shipwrights were busy incorporating Fu Chuan's sturdy superstructure into their own designs. Combining the best of both worlds, the improved Guang Chuan became a formidable warship second only to the <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/jia-ban-chuan.html" target="_blank">great ships of the Europeans</a></b>. Not only Guang Chuan's huge size allowed it to carry large numbers of combatants and be fitted with larger superstructures than Fu Chuan, making it supremely dangerous at close range and boarding action, its strong hull and additional maneuverability provided by oars also turned it into a potent ramming vessel. In addition, Guang Chuan's heavy build could withstand the weight and recoil of more powerful guns, allowing it to keep up with the newfound firepower of its Fujianese counterpart, at least for a time, although it too became obsolete around 1630-50s.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span id="wuweichuan"></span><b>Wu Wei Chuan (烏尾船, lit. 'Black-tailed ship')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcR2t3Zcne3TixrY2fSYZVT0iD08vdxs7BEKED4_NSeRU5fnRdt5p3raqVwZyY5nxfakn9N0oYK9O8Z7BqHI8S9yE0fuIGLcU-mnd8ty9FYuhU5idk8RLxy5iOb3QR15aI8_K8WixOpXRFzbBtfkB3rBT23Fbr68S0O9PUNn7-0RqquyzuKhKANoj/s2254/Wuweichuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1709" data-original-width="2254" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcR2t3Zcne3TixrY2fSYZVT0iD08vdxs7BEKED4_NSeRU5fnRdt5p3raqVwZyY5nxfakn9N0oYK9O8Z7BqHI8S9yE0fuIGLcU-mnd8ty9FYuhU5idk8RLxy5iOb3QR15aI8_K8WixOpXRFzbBtfkB3rBT23Fbr68S0O9PUNn7-0RqquyzuKhKANoj/w640-h486/Wuweichuan.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a late Ming Wu Wei Chuan. Note its enclosed outrigger with additional fencing on top, as well as fore- and aftercastle. From 'Jing Guo Xiong Lue (《經國雄略》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Wu Wei Chuan is a regional variant of Guang Chuan primarily built from the shipyard in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongguan" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Dongguan</a>. A large vessel originally designed for civilian use, Wu Wei Chuan was adopted by the military to combat <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p1.html" target="_blank">Wokou</a></b>, although Ming commanders at the time had low opinion of the ship owing to its lack of protective superstructure, and generally preferred Fu Chuan over Guang Chuan.<div><br /></div><div>Wu Wei Chuan's call to fame, ironically, came not from Ming navy, but from Chinese pirate <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p2.html#zengyiben" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Zeng Yi Ben (曾一本)</a>, who assembled a never-before-seen war fleet of captured Wu Wei Chuan and terrorised the coasts of Guangzhou unopposed. So fearsome was Zhen Yi Ben's fleet, that Ming navy had to muster a huge armada—the largest since Zheng He's <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_treasure_voyages" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">treasure voyages</a></b>—and even purpose-built twenty-four massive <b>ironclad</b> warships in order to put him down for good. Thereafter, Wu Wei Chuan became the most representative and ubiquitous Guang Chuan in military service, and by the twilight years of the Ming Dynasty it had become one of the two premier warships of Ming navy along with <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/niao-chuan.html" target="_blank">Niao Chuan (鳥船)</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div><b>Other blog posts in my Four Great Ancient Ships series:</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html" target="">Fu Chuan (福船)</a></b></div><div><b>Guang Chuan (廣船)</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/08/sha-chuan-and-ying-chuan.html" target="">Sha Chuan (沙船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/niao-chuan.html">Niao Chuan (鳥船)</a></b></div></div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-28816158315218601002022-08-17T03:36:00.035-07:002023-12-21T21:03:29.883-08:00Sha Chuan (沙船) and Ying Chuan (鷹船)<h4 id="shachuan"><b>Sha Chuan (沙船, lit. 'Sand ship')</b></h4><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakY8DlGclZPMSAmA-3SfJQ687gbzBIdKvh6xyS9n7ovfgGHNKz03_mskSAuQZ1YGLpy-u0WirkGhHgepNJ0QSetR9-fWGL6DlalAxDK8pCaHo_Dcdv0-wC9EeiEAMgpqJIMNQq0xWlZfi8Xo885s7zWVlcP_tp6YDg0svu-U5Mjlw60MTAumXCbXM/s1024/shachuan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1024" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakY8DlGclZPMSAmA-3SfJQ687gbzBIdKvh6xyS9n7ovfgGHNKz03_mskSAuQZ1YGLpy-u0WirkGhHgepNJ0QSetR9-fWGL6DlalAxDK8pCaHo_Dcdv0-wC9EeiEAMgpqJIMNQq0xWlZfi8Xo885s7zWVlcP_tp6YDg0svu-U5Mjlw60MTAumXCbXM/w640-h512/shachuan.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old photo of a five-masted Sha Chuan-type trading junk, or "Pechili trader" as it was known to the West. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Originated from <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongming_Island" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Chongming Island</a></b> at the mouth of Yangtze River, Sha Chuan is one of the iconic "Four Great Ancient Ships" of China. It is characterised by flat bottomed hull with almost no sheer, flat prow and stern with squarish unbalanced rudder that can be retracted, wide deck with little to no superstructure, slender rectangular junk sails, as well as large numbers of masts and sails for its size. Many Sha Chuan have long and flat pinky sterns iconic to the ship type, and some are also equipped with bilge keels, leeboards, and a large, rock-filled bamboo basket known as <b>Tai Ping Lan</b> (太平籃, lit. 'Peace basket') that can be lowered into the water to serve as external ballast during rough weather conditions.</div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFBegU4d1YrKg3oalh1uA-p-NGPrp0lzKo2MAxYUZtJeeSI0NGCBAxOkdnUCTFd0xOhFT9DrG_ZPJWV7Z8FccNnPGLOB_euaADEhzwkzx1HPPgee6Jnzjtck-vbLVOjZfglzMJYxc4weoJEqkifqR8gAzuEJcrintzxRjBn7IBfIku1zUO34PiznYj/s2389/sand_boat.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2389" data-original-width="1645" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFBegU4d1YrKg3oalh1uA-p-NGPrp0lzKo2MAxYUZtJeeSI0NGCBAxOkdnUCTFd0xOhFT9DrG_ZPJWV7Z8FccNnPGLOB_euaADEhzwkzx1HPPgee6Jnzjtck-vbLVOjZfglzMJYxc4weoJEqkifqR8gAzuEJcrintzxRjBn7IBfIku1zUO34PiznYj/w440-h640/sand_boat.jpg" width="440" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Sha Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>Tailor-made to navigate the treacherous shallow water of the flood-prone Yangtze River, Sha Chuan has respectable stability despite being a flat-bottomed ship with shallow draft and low freeboard. Its flat bottom also allows the ship to be beached safely and prevents hull damage in case of stranding. While this hull design does not naturally lend towards high speed sailing, Sha Chuan's unusually large numbers of sails more than compensate for it, and even allow the ship to sail against both wind and current at the same time.<div><br /><div>The alluvial soil on the shoals of Chongming is extremely fertile and ripe for agricultural cultivation, and they were settled as early as Tang period. Unfortunately, Chongming Island is also flat, geographically featureless, and virtually indefensible, so during Ming period it became frequent victim of <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/06/enemy-of-ming-wokou-p1.html" target="_blank">Wokou</a></b> terrorisation and piratical raids, especially by those that wished to make further incursion upriver. Island settlers of Chongming quickly learned to band together for mutual protection, and Ming government also placed increasing importance to the defence of Chongming Island due to its strategic position as the entry choke point of Yangtze River. Before long, Sha Chuan was put to military use and entered Ming arsenal.</div><div><br /></div><div><h4 id="yingchuan"><b>Ying Chuan (鷹船, lit. 'Eagle ship')</b></h4><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeV6netSMJF568Jm70Eor-MSrogL88fIY_e3_r1qzVQ6Ft_up_SgkwHu8v1qcs99omSbwNEAYf1_bSkJH8GsEv4KLeV_OmbuW6OCtk3TvocRZwN4BVENPHIT0TaqabZDwmGokqt1M3cvLb4pfzwO8M2kiEgseWpHffA7FDsQP6mnykhJdtrtiFd-RF/s2402/eagle_boat_1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2402" data-original-width="1680" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeV6netSMJF568Jm70Eor-MSrogL88fIY_e3_r1qzVQ6Ft_up_SgkwHu8v1qcs99omSbwNEAYf1_bSkJH8GsEv4KLeV_OmbuW6OCtk3TvocRZwN4BVENPHIT0TaqabZDwmGokqt1M3cvLb4pfzwO8M2kiEgseWpHffA7FDsQP6mnykhJdtrtiFd-RF/w448-h640/eagle_boat_1.jpg" width="448" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a Ying Chuan, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table>Although Sha Chuan was prized by Ming navy for its ability to navigate shallow water unreachable by other warships, its exposed deck leaves sailors and marines alike vulnerable to enemy retaliation. As such, a new type of warship, known as Ying Chuan, was designed to complement the Sha Chuan fleet.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ying Chuan is a double-ended warship with no bow, two pointy sterns, and two rudders. Unlike Sha Chuan which it was designed to complement, Ying Chuan is an oared warship with no mast and sail, and its entire deck is heavily protected by reinforced bamboo fencing fitted with gun and arrow loops. Thanks to its oar propulsion and unique double-ended design (it can move forward and backward easily without needing to change direction), Ying Chuan is capable of quickly dashing in and out of enemy fleet formation while shooting at every direction, disrupting and disorienting enemy ships to buy time for the more vulnerable Sha Chuan to close in for boarding action.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Other blog posts in my Four Great Ancient Ships series:</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/fu-chuan.html" target="">Fu Chuan (福船)</a></b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/09/guang-chuan.html" target="">Guang Chuan (廣船)</a></b></div><div><b>Sha Chuan (沙船)</b></div><div><b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2022/10/niao-chuan.html">Niao Chuan (鳥船)</a></b></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-24744757851335119922022-06-20T01:57:00.010-07:002022-10-02T21:33:22.090-07:00Ming Chinese cavalry tactics — Part 2In my <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2016/05/ming-chinese-cavalry-tactics-p1.html" target="_blank">previous blog post</a></b>, I briefly touched some of the tactics used by Ming cavalry against their nomadic enemies. In this one, I will delve deeper and discuss a formation used in <b>Dao Chao</b> (搗巢) operation, or more specifically, the formation used during the return trip of such an operation.<div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Jiao Lu Chao Chu Bing Zhen (剿虜巢出兵陣, lit. 'Barbarian nest suppression mobilisation formation')</b></h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8v3GOZmZoYxm0b_sSJcjeRRRlcy-JarW4ZCjsCkyh4MJbkDdq89vzTLNxgGb64brcn4WEnwhYdfXn094YOJzTWtbnw5Ve4t4TpMOx1dAeW7YMR9Ry_RykG6agNSoIjyZmoHvfVaxKx4Kt6kvP8G-g_HtkNCZ4tLNwWiFRn4NBc0z7_8J2AfMlwc91/s2467/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2467" data-original-width="1656" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8v3GOZmZoYxm0b_sSJcjeRRRlcy-JarW4ZCjsCkyh4MJbkDdq89vzTLNxgGb64brcn4WEnwhYdfXn094YOJzTWtbnw5Ve4t4TpMOx1dAeW7YMR9Ry_RykG6agNSoIjyZmoHvfVaxKx4Kt6kvP8G-g_HtkNCZ4tLNwWiFRn4NBc0z7_8J2AfMlwc91/w430-h640/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu.jpg" width="430" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of Jiao Lu Chu Bing Zhen Tu, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><span><a name='more'></a></span>By its nature, Dao Chao operation was a reactionary counter-raid operation that sought to locate, pillage, and destroy a Mongol settlement, preferably while the Mongols themselves were away raiding elsewhere. Intelligence, speed, and secrecy were heavily prioritised for Dao Chao operation, but direct engagement with the Mongols was discouraged and avoided whenever possible. Needless to say, a sophisticated offensive tactic or formation was not needed for attacking a defenseless camp filled with women, children, and elderly. However, once the raiding was done, the raiding parties were several days of travel away from friendly territory, and being burdened by captured livestock, chopped heads and other spoils of war. This was where they were at their most vulnerable, as the Mongols would surely retaliate and attempt to take back their stolen property.<br /><p></p></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3z3t6efXm1MjqaI4m_ilodifLqMLhCwqx1QqMSyFAKcukXtCxx0gD9X1arCgIKAS3_oBK0AC0tYUfp7T8K71bh9Wg0cCryO0aHt4elkIQHR1nzeb7f_WdzXJVkPw0juJtBtGDo_UpiCg5QtZmT6lBR9gmOXhRVP0_JtQhDVDfZekOu3w1IhO47hvC/s2467/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2467" data-original-width="1656" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3z3t6efXm1MjqaI4m_ilodifLqMLhCwqx1QqMSyFAKcukXtCxx0gD9X1arCgIKAS3_oBK0AC0tYUfp7T8K71bh9Wg0cCryO0aHt4elkIQHR1nzeb7f_WdzXJVkPw0juJtBtGDo_UpiCg5QtZmT6lBR9gmOXhRVP0_JtQhDVDfZekOu3w1IhO47hvC/w430-h640/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu1.jpg" width="430" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raiding party (highlighted) facing south, taking a defensive posture during return trip.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>As such, Jiao Lu Chao Chu Bing Zhen was not an offensive formation, but a defensive one. It was actually two formations in one: the returning raiding party and supporting force. The raiding party would be arrayed in a T-shaped formation, with the slowest and most vulnerable livestock and herders placed in the middle, flanked on both sides by troops encumbered by collected enemy heads but still able to fight. The most capable fighting men and troops that did not carry any spoils of war formed into battle lines behind them to perform rearguard duty. The rearguards must remain on high alert as they often had to engage in fighting retreat against the riled Mongols, usually multiple times, throughout their journey back to safety.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXjh2EFmUgedHNakcT2V0u_xTI-I7R3De0jZiCHa2WKWoRQP4cUMsv2quOzRYrsl07-_rmbC8REXLW2wsjClMAn34IGJlU7lFZ8vLwRra1_vJeJSgwSWMcsKeMiPy2gt4zzArnnWs2jSfoOher9GeNAspmUwo6PmaQ4mp5i6jGDBbOWehGHRsC-9S/s2467/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2467" data-original-width="1656" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidXjh2EFmUgedHNakcT2V0u_xTI-I7R3De0jZiCHa2WKWoRQP4cUMsv2quOzRYrsl07-_rmbC8REXLW2wsjClMAn34IGJlU7lFZ8vLwRra1_vJeJSgwSWMcsKeMiPy2gt4zzArnnWs2jSfoOher9GeNAspmUwo6PmaQ4mp5i6jGDBbOWehGHRsC-9S/w430-h640/jiaoluchaochubingzhentu2.jpg" width="430" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supporting force (highlighted) facing north, forming a U-shaped formation.</td></tr></tbody></table>During Dao Chao operation, the main body of the army would act as supporting force that only moves a short distance away from friendly territory to rendezvous with the exhausted raiding party for the last stretch of return journey. The formation used by supporting force is not explained in details in the military treatise, although it can be inferred that the centre formed a secure hollow circle to receive the raiding party, whereas left and right wings would move past the raiding party to engage and chase away the Mongols trailing behind.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-is-dao-chao-68927309" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="4321" data-original-width="4001" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImumBxHewINXaJ4ipRiGgS87M36UjuDtauPFFisod3YpoHv-l-EivfKStngcOhckKsE05HLpgbX7wXbojDaxJeMkQ9dREcfnW3lvTdo-XkaWx3TV2tkzMK1t4NWHiBtlK62j-E4m_ANcMYvrEmKju4w5kn87afBtmIK4FnQyCRFWU0uCDSd6FobNI/w592-h640/patreon-02.jpg" width="592" /></a></div>A more in-depth look of Dao Chao operation is available to my patrons only and can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-is-dao-chao-68927309">here</a></b>! If you like my work, please consider supporting me via Patreon!春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-50206425188758535812022-05-24T02:11:00.011-07:002023-07-14T21:42:07.260-07:00Infantry formations of the Imjin War — Part 1<h4 id="Zhejiangformation"><b>Zhejiang infantry formation</b></h4>
<b>『遂命諸技, 一時呈技, 隊長在前, 橙牌居次, 砲手又居次, 筤筅、長搶、三枝搶, 又次次居之, 迭相進退, 左旋右抽, 各臻其妙。』</b><div><b>"(He) then ordered various branches to perform (their) skills together, captain at the front, (rattan) shields formed the next rank, gunners formed the rank after next, and Lang Xian, pikes, tridents formed subsequent ranks. Then (they) arrayed in intervals (and) advanced and retreated by turn, spun left and drawn right, each had its own ingeniousness."</b><div><b>— </b>Korean description of Ming infantry formation under Chen Yin (陳寅) during a military demonstration.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>『南兵每隊原有銅鍋外,每名椰瓢一箇,每隊斧二把,鎬頭一把。除銃兵牌手原有腰刀外,其筅、鎗、鎲手各要快利腰刀一把,不拘一式。狼筅鎲兵各帶火箭十枝。』</b></div><div><b>“Beside the copper pot originally given to every Southern troop squad, every (soldier) (should be given) a coconut ladle, every squad (should be given) two axes (and) one pickaxe. Beside the swords originally owned by gunners and shieldbearers, every other Lang Xian, pike, and Tang Pa troop should be given a sharp sword, irrespective of the types (of swords). Every Lang Xian and Tang Pa troop (should) carry ten rockets.”</b></div><div>— Excerpt of Jing Lue Fu Guo Yao Bian (《經略復國要編》), detailing various equipment provided to Ming Southern troops during the first invasion.</div></div><div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6Pj60nujVlBmrEkyveL8X8OkcBdowlAl_y3XD-FXBYvuFzBPqmy8t-eblOJYTsCEs37xq-cIo3fVtNlqFfFfY6Jm9FElIHIyPmmo81edlLHuB9zFdNfBz2Pfj5AFyvu_wmnN3pO3rCEgVajGTollSIF4BcqqkWqMRnSulgN6jXvIH4CNKtbcPBn-/s1385/Southern_Infantry_Formation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1385" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6Pj60nujVlBmrEkyveL8X8OkcBdowlAl_y3XD-FXBYvuFzBPqmy8t-eblOJYTsCEs37xq-cIo3fVtNlqFfFfY6Jm9FElIHIyPmmo81edlLHuB9zFdNfBz2Pfj5AFyvu_wmnN3pO3rCEgVajGTollSIF4BcqqkWqMRnSulgN6jXvIH4CNKtbcPBn-/w640-h382/Southern_Infantry_Formation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conjectured Imjin War-era Ming Southern infantry formation. This image is cropped, edited and pieced together from various Ming military treatises and training manuals by myself.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<span><a name='more'></a></span>Essentially the Imjin War-era iteration of the famous <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/03/mandarin-duck-formation-p1.html" target="_blank"><b>Mandarin Duck Formation</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, this infantry squad consisted of a captain, two </span><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/03/teng-pai-yao-dao-and-biao-qiang.html" target="_blank"><b>rattan shieldmen</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, two </span><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/11/matchlock-of-ming-dynasty.html" target="_blank"><b>arquebusiers</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, two </span><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/08/unique-weapon-of-ming-dynasty-lang-xian.html" target="_blank"><b>Lang Xian (狼筅)</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, two </span><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/03/chang-qiang.html" target="_blank"><b>pikemen</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, and two </span><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/03/tang-ba.html" target="_blank"><b>Tang Pa (鎲鈀)</b></a> <span>troops, all armed with <a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/06/swords-and-sabres-of-ming-dynasty.html" target="_blank"><b>swords</b></a> as secondary weapons. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>With 6 out of 10 troops carrying defensive equipment (two rattan shields, two Lang Xian and two Tang Pa), 6 out of 10 troops armed with ranged weapons (Lang Xian and Tang Pa troops also doubled as <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/09/rocket-weaponry-of-ming-dynasty-p1.html" target="_blank">rocket</a> </b>troops, in addition to two arquebusiers in the squad), and entire squad capable of fending for themselves in close combat, Zhejiang infantry formation was well-balanced and versatile, able to perform well under a variety of scenarios. However, the formation itself appears to be downgraded from <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/11/mandarin-duck-formation-p5.html" target="_blank">earlier version</a></b> used by Qi Ji Guang himself, as dedicated arquebusier squads seem to be dissolved and merged into existing infantry squad structure, severely reducing the firepower they could bring.</div><div><div><br /></div><h4 id="Japanese"><b>Japanese battle formation</b></h4></div><div><div><b>『則其法, 負旗者居前, 持鳥銃者次之, 持槍劍者又次之,整齊成列, 而左右又巧設奇兵。 每於臨戰之時, 負旗者擺列於左右, 而持銃者放砲, 持槍劍者, 乘氣勢而突進, 左右擺列, 負旗之軍, 又繞出兩邊, 與左右伏兵, 圍繞敵後。酣戰罷散時, 又多置伏兵于左右, 而鳥銃劍槍, 各爲一隊, 散伏草間, 如鳥獸之隱伏, 挑戰之時, 則必以小兵誘引, 俟其陷於伏兵處, 鱗次起戰。』</b></div><div><b>As for their method, standard bearers formed the front rank, those armed with arquebuses formed the next rank, those armed with spears and swords formed the ranks after the next, (the formation is) neat and orderly. (And they) cleverly deployed unorthodox troops at left and right (flanks). During battle, standard bearers arrayed to left and right (flanks), arquebusiers fired their guns, those armed with spears and swords took the momentum and charge. (At) left and right flanks, standard bearers moved out to left and right (flanks) to encircle the enemy together with ambushers. </b><b>When (the formation) disengage and disperse during the heat of battle, (they) once again placed many ambushers at left and right (flanks), while arquebusiers and those armed with swords and spears formed their own groups and dispersed to hide among the grass like hiding birds and animals. When (they) provoke a battle, (they) always used a few troops as bait. When (the enemy) fell to the ambush, (they) rose and engaged one after another.</b></div><div>— Yeo Yeo-moon (여여문 or 呂汝文), a Japanese defector, explaining Japanese battle tactics to the Koreans.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIG2NAuUGr-qsCyS1D-pQfuy2-hf86X9ApZUNhyhMe3MhdLGv9kU1sT6h8SORzeLcepEYMZofr7xQIc8nvUXcZEtOAJZZPloqDKvhlxj4OEQLbOKfGEeWKDHT_WXa9wdssln2cB-OcHYgJtyxSFvbtXSwWcfvUDK8AxtjAZyadRb9urJSwJV9mu_F/s5771/Japanese%20Formation-01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="5771" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDIG2NAuUGr-qsCyS1D-pQfuy2-hf86X9ApZUNhyhMe3MhdLGv9kU1sT6h8SORzeLcepEYMZofr7xQIc8nvUXcZEtOAJZZPloqDKvhlxj4OEQLbOKfGEeWKDHT_WXa9wdssln2cB-OcHYgJtyxSFvbtXSwWcfvUDK8AxtjAZyadRb9urJSwJV9mu_F/w640-h336/Japanese%20Formation-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpReFhTWfcZ5swMsVfltF-VCqZdnQQmX3l50AQ7ukPFx93Y_NkCkIH5dkIDl6WOAE8viBQPiNe8aCtzA0D4I5keVu63W5kSpHWq0dZ2dg04kmzwVJraCNaJWqztjohdWmZ47b-9ubMZjfbeicfo7AAsTQI4cuSvtpx4-eqBg44kORYBi_iEsSCaPJp/s5771/Japanese%20Formation-02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="5771" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpReFhTWfcZ5swMsVfltF-VCqZdnQQmX3l50AQ7ukPFx93Y_NkCkIH5dkIDl6WOAE8viBQPiNe8aCtzA0D4I5keVu63W5kSpHWq0dZ2dg04kmzwVJraCNaJWqztjohdWmZ47b-9ubMZjfbeicfo7AAsTQI4cuSvtpx4-eqBg44kORYBi_iEsSCaPJp/w640-h336/Japanese%20Formation-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinv7cADyDlf0jgXo6z1H4StjrBcojc_YWCvPvm550m4LhtchCiOqOy2J4ZkaV2nQtCd7sNMuw2W7AAidffQeoNl6vzQCZkDVbcScWsKA4FtLfd0He40Y48_LOzun9JJzQ3lM7ymYWVOAKXnQ0VnFriic_Ggt9TOQed5JgrTc7yFAoKBLzKq8JQS12o/s5771/Japanese%20Formation-03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="5771" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinv7cADyDlf0jgXo6z1H4StjrBcojc_YWCvPvm550m4LhtchCiOqOy2J4ZkaV2nQtCd7sNMuw2W7AAidffQeoNl6vzQCZkDVbcScWsKA4FtLfd0He40Y48_LOzun9JJzQ3lM7ymYWVOAKXnQ0VnFriic_Ggt9TOQed5JgrTc7yFAoKBLzKq8JQS12o/w640-h336/Japanese%20Formation-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div>This Imjin War-era Japanese battle formation consisted of standard bearers at the foremost rank, arquebusiers positioned behind them, followed by spearmen and swordsmen. In addition, ambushers with unspecified armaments were positioned at both flanks. While neither the number of ranks, nor number of troops was specified, the formation most likely operated at <b><a href="http://gunbai-militaryhistory.blogspot.com/2018/03/sengoku-period-warfare-part-1-army-and.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sonae (備)</a></b> level, or around 300-800 troops.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite sharing a few similarities with its Chinese counterpart (i.e. both formations roughly followed standard bearer-arquebusier-spearman arrangement), Japanese battle formation was evidently much more aggressive and shock-oriented: Japanese troops carried no defensive equipment whatsoever (other than body armours of a handful of better-equipped troops), only utilised matchlock guns to deliver shock during the opening volley before charging into close combat, and made immediate use of flanking attack, all seeking to overwhelm and crush their opponents as quickly as possible. On top of that, Japanese battle formation also appears to be a lot more fluid than Zhejiang formation, with no hard requirement for individual soldiers to maintain cohesion with their squadmates.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/infantry-of-war-66697726" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="960" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmOVAYaNCgJjCmXa0xxGFTz-lpgtBPanBgU3mo97f8mNo4gSmBBBcQ2TYoI36QKwkNkHrMel_Hivujw-DFTixhTpFwFHZttorAzF87XGfaOebXKbV_VpYJ6VRs1KdWitxpJI__dzJW-5J1Si5-h7fFWXuyr7tGXhggPMdRs5SjbLqsT4YtlU5h1ehq/w640-h410/Small_Formation_Patreon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div>Part 2 of this article is available to my patrons only and can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/infantry-of-war-66697726" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via Patreon!</div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-58240456667930775212022-05-13T19:52:00.002-07:002022-10-02T21:33:50.871-07:00Fei Qiang (飛鎗) and Fei Jian (飛箭)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXM73JSLAAV7zjWJ1oSRF4QnGHYqjDu2LqpY_uwkpSy-iSNTnzQUDx8F7FgkZpF_Vq6LgBJhaf7hCaXQYazAa4sUhsi1TgcFQvcTwqSxeFtsWIdC51ty78GK9HxXnA-vTix3Bc58kLpebnqHe2E1bibkR-Yzh4wipCVe6TQW6MnhmPiG4jAGCERxV/s847/feiqiang_feijian.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chinese tension springald" border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="847" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjXM73JSLAAV7zjWJ1oSRF4QnGHYqjDu2LqpY_uwkpSy-iSNTnzQUDx8F7FgkZpF_Vq6LgBJhaf7hCaXQYazAa4sUhsi1TgcFQvcTwqSxeFtsWIdC51ty78GK9HxXnA-vTix3Bc58kLpebnqHe2E1bibkR-Yzh4wipCVe6TQW6MnhmPiG4jAGCERxV/w640-h478/feiqiang_feijian.jpg" title="Ming Dynasty spring engine" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of Fei Qiang (left) and Fei Jian (right), from 'Shou Yu Quan Shu (《守圉全書》)'.</td></tr></tbody></table><b><span><a name='more'></a></span>Fei Qiang</b> (飛鎗, lit. 'Flying spear') and <b>Fei Jian</b> (飛箭, lit. 'Flying arrow') are two interesting siege engines found in seventeenth century siege defence treatise Shou Yu Quan Shu (《守圉全書》). Both siege engines are completely identical save for the fact that Fei Qiang launches a single spear-sized projectile, while Fei Jian launches about a dozen arrows at the same time. <div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDBZnmOF4ZUcXT9d0YGSgRfNsGWPI7YCCNG46XxGq1IaNBbinSvDxkdem2t-Ni9EScLLGQrWOea-UkEdg83wdBfht_y388keejeTohb3qbqE4X4vZGoSjf-AKvyJDJw43YNtBG4WNox89BUNCW3TLHm2zX07S48GhXK6FIhMpFDSv5MAafzfYIMmFQ/s657/Valturio_Springald.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Spring engine" border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="657" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDBZnmOF4ZUcXT9d0YGSgRfNsGWPI7YCCNG46XxGq1IaNBbinSvDxkdem2t-Ni9EScLLGQrWOea-UkEdg83wdBfht_y388keejeTohb3qbqE4X4vZGoSjf-AKvyJDJw43YNtBG4WNox89BUNCW3TLHm2zX07S48GhXK6FIhMpFDSv5MAafzfYIMmFQ/w640-h518/Valturio_Springald.jpg" title="Valturio springald" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drawing of a tension springald, from Roberto Valturio's <i>De Re Militari</i>.</td></tr></tbody></table>What is especially unusual about Fei Qiang and Fei Jian is that they are highly reminiscence of the so-called tension springald (also known as "spring engine" by Sir Ralph William Frankland-Payne-Gallwey in <a href="https://archive.org/details/Book_of_the_Crossbow_The_by_Sir_Ralph_Payne-Galloway/page/n341/mode/1up" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Book of the Crossbow</a>) that utilises elastic potential energy stored by bending its single wooden arm that, when released, will strike at the projectile(s) placed on a separate rack and propel them forward with great force. In fact, since Han Lin (韓霖), the author of Shou Yu Quan Shu, had a strong Catholic background, this knowledge might very well be passed to him by Western missionaries.</div></div>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1776482547357658591.post-31224500577421173812022-04-26T01:12:00.009-07:002023-06-16T19:05:37.163-07:00Patron only: Post-Ulsan skirmishes<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/62632313" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzmmD8LeKQkj9U49Gy6UsuKI0G88mSoKMvsJhbZWv1gJzbzNN9rFrdTNzo3N8TNf7qSFCTfBpuHBvqogZRMyhDKNleyesrIerzio8Y9y3unYu2_Rm29Qvk8N-73i6RmTcYF1QdRbbbWDMY3ntznx_ufLMobNSE1rmY1bMAmjmdsDtsQuw44fyaeXw/w592-h640/post-ulsan_skirmishes.jpg" width="592" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><a name='more'></a></span>After <b><a href="https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2020/07/siege-of-ulsan.html" target="_blank">Siege of Ulsan</a></b> was over, a series of skirmishes was fought between Japanese troops under Shimazu Yoshihiro (島津義弘) and Ming and Joseon army. These skirmishes had little to no direct consequence to the overall strategic picture of Imjin War, although they shed some insights on the overall situation and atmosphere after the siege, as well as what was happening in-between the better remembered set-piece battles and major siege campaigns. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>This article is available to my Patrons only and can be accessed <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/62632313" target="_blank">here</a></b>. If you like my work, please support me via <b><a href="https://www.patreon.com/greatmingmilitary">Patreon</a></b>!</div></div><p></p>春秋戰國http://www.blogger.com/profile/14961602507085597255noreply@blogger.com0