Great Ming Military: cart and wagon

Showing posts with label cart and wagon. Show all posts

6 September 2023

War cart regiment of Zeng Xian (曾銑)

Satellite map of modern Hetao region.

The plan to reclaim Hetao

The region known as Hetao (河套) 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.

Zhang Xue Yan's Zhan Che (戰車)

Drawing of Zhang Xue Yan's war cart, from 'Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)'.

Zhan Che (戰車) was a type of war cart designed by Zhang Xue Yan (張學顏), Grand Coordinator of Liaodong based on an older model devised by Li Wen Da (李文達). It was designed to be able to keep up with Ye Meng Xiong's lightweight war cart and was equipped with a leather protective screen, two stacks of rockets and Shen Qiang (神鎗), as well as rows of anti-cavalry spears projecting out of all four sides of the cart.

Ye Meng Xiong's Qing Che (輕車)

Drawing of Ye Meng Xiong's Qing Che, from 'Deng Tan Bi Jiu (《登壇必究》)'.

Qi Ji Guang's Che Ying (車營) — Part 2

Tactics

Drawing of a Pian Xiang Che, from 'Lian Bing Shi Ji (《練兵實紀》)'.

Qi Ji Guang's Che Ying (車營) — Part 1

The Mongol Threat

It was no secret that the Mongols were formidable and extremely dangerous warriors. Being an all-cavalry army, their strength lay way beyond just simple mobility and deadly horse archery, but also their unpredictability and force concentration. It is quite unfathomable, at least to modern minds that are more exposed and accustomed to Western (particularly European) style of medieval warfare, that a nomadic people with but a small fraction of Chinese population and wealth could muster a vastly larger, better trained and better equipped army than the Chinese, yet for most of the Chinese-Mongol conflicts, Chinese soldiers frequently found themselves not only outmanoeuvred but also outnumbered. In fact, it was not unusual in any given conflict to have a Mongol force that fielded more horsemen than Chinese had footmen, even though a horseman was several times more expensive to train and maintain than a foot soldier.

The ability of the Mongols to concentrate their forces essentially forced the Chinese into passive defensive warfare—utilising fortresses and strongholds to balance out the force multiplier created through concentration of force. Yet due to their superior mobility the Mongols could strike at more places than Chinese could defend them, and at times of their choosing. It was under such circumstance that the Chinese invented and pioneered wagon fort tactics to defend against nomadic raids, as war carts served as "fortress that moves" that allowed Chinese troops to operate away from the protection of their fortresses.

Yet even war cart alone could not adequately defend against Mongol horsemen, whom were equally deadly in horse archery as they were in cavalry charge, and often had numerical advantage on their side. For most of China's history, Chinese troops had to rely on massed crossbows, whether handheld or vehicle-mounted, to repel these horsemen. While undoubtedly effective, Chinese crossbow was hard-pressed to match the Mongol bow.

Qi Ji Guang's Che Ying (車營, lit. 'Cart regiment')

Che Ying formed the war cart branch of the reformed Ji Defence Area army devised by Qi Ji Guang (戚繼光), and was arguably the most important unit of his reform. While it was intended to operate alongside the infantry, cavalry and logistic branch of the army, Che Ying was actually self-sufficient even when deployed alone.

Several types of war carts were used in Che Ying, which will be detailed below:

Pian Xiang Che (偏廂車, lit. 'Side cabin cart')

Drawing of a Pian Xiang Che, from 'Si Zhen San Guan Zhi (《四鎮三關志》)'.

Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 5

Other carts in Yu Da You's division

Du Lun Che (獨輪車) was not the only type of war cart in the war cart division. Yu Da You (俞大猷) also designed several other war carts to be used together with Du Lun Che.

Shuang Lun Zhan Che (雙輪戰車, lit. 'Two wheeled war cart')

Basic layout of Shuang Lun Zhan Che, from 'Zhen Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

Shuang Lun Zhan Che was more stable and compact that its one wheeled counterpart. It was pushed by six crews instead of eight, with two of the pushers stationed inside the cart. Yu Da You mentioned that it had the same armament as Du Lun Che, however the illustration shows that it had seven spearheads instead of the usual four.

Shuang Lun Liang Che (雙輪糧車, lit. 'Two wheeled grain cart')

Basic layout of Shuang Lun Liang Che, from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

Shuang Lun Liang Che was the supply cart of the war cart division. It was almost identical to Shuang Lun Zhan Che, except slightly smaller and only had five spearheads. It was not known whether this supply cart was armed with firearms or not.

Xin Zhi Shuang Lun Zhan Che (新製雙輪戰車, lit. 'New model two wheeled war cart')

Basic layout of the Xin Zhi Shuang Lun Zhan Che, from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

After the success of war cart at Datong Defence Area (大同鎮), Yu Da You also tried to introduce the war cart to Jing Ying (京營, lit. 'Capital Regiment') stationed at the capital. He succeeded in raising a sixty thousand strong war cart army in in his elderly years.

Xin Zhi Shuang Lun Zhan Che was the war cart designed for imperial guards. It was slightly larger than its Datong Defence Area counterparts, had two wooden screens instead of leather shields, and came equipped with five spearheads and three Fo Lang Ji (佛狼機) cannons. It also had two iron chains that were used to link multiple war carts together.

Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 4

Entire war cart regiment was known as Da Ying (大營, large regiment), consisted of thirteen Xiao Ying (小營), or one hundred and sixty-nine war carts. With such a large number of war carts operating together, the regiment no longer had to be always on the defensive. Instead Yu Da You (俞大猷) opted for an aggressive tactics that bring the fight to their enemy.

Large Unit Tactics

Ming Chinese War Wagon Offensive Formation

Yu Da You's war cart formation (large), from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 3

Circling up the wagons

Defensive formation of war wagons was fairly straightforward: war wagons were deployed into a rectangle or circle to form a makeshift fortification. However, owing to its lighter weight, the war carts of Yu Da You (俞大猷) could maintain some mobility even after a defensive circle was formed. This was very crucial to Yu Da You's war cart regiment, as Mongol horsemen were simply too fast and too unpredictable. A mobile defensive circle was a temporary defensive formation that protected the army so that it could relocate to a favourable position and deploy into a proper wagon fort.

Yu Da You drafted the following formations based on a medium sized battlegroup consisted of seven Xiao Ying (小營), or ninety-one war carts.

Battlegroup on the march: War cart battlegroup formed into a long column, with mounted scouts riding ahead and behind the formation.

Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 2

Yu Da You (俞大猷) organised his war cart regiment to be able to functions at different tactical levels. The smallest military unit in Yu Da You's war cart regiment capable of independent operations was Xiao Ying (小營, small battalion), consisted of thirteen war carts.

Small Unit Tactics

Yu Da You's war cart formation (small) at its initial position, from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

As the smallest operational unit in the war cart regiment, Xiao Ying was geared towards small scale engagement, namely to engage and defeat small numbers of Mongol skirmishers or raiders looking for plunder. As such, mobility and firepower were far more important than forming impenetrable defensive formation to defeat an enemy that frequently employed hit-and-run tactics and would not hesitate to retreat at the first sign of trouble. Xiao Ying did not form into wagon fort (Yu Da You thought that defensive formation should be left for larger unit) but deployed in checkerboard formation to maximise the firepower of Fo Lang Ji (佛狼機) cannons.

Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 1

Contrary of popular misconception, war wagons formed an integral part of the Song, Ming and early Manchu armies, particularly in North China. Massive numbers of war wagons once roamed China's soil, defending Ming territories against Mongol raiders, and much of the battles between Ming Chinese and Manchus were fought with war wagons from both sides.

While mentions of Ming period war wagons are plentiful, famous Ming general Yu Da You (俞大猷) was one of the earliest pioneers to discuss in detail the deployment and tactics of these war machines. He also designed Du Lun Che (獨輪車, lit. 'One wheeled cart'), which was basically a giant armed and armoured wheelbarrow.

Early Version

This version of Du Lun Che was designed by Yu Da You before his transfer to Datong Defence Area (大同鎮). Early Du Lun Che was a simple cart armed with two long spears, manned by ten crews and supported by ten infantries, twenty horsemen and twenty packhorses. The infantries were armed with Gou Lian Dao (鉤鐮刀), Hu Cha (虎叉, lit. 'Tiger fork', a trident that was similar but much larger than Tang Pa (鎲鈀). Its use was more common during Qing period.), Long Dao Qiang (龍刀鎗), as well as round shields paired with Huan Dao (環刀, lit. 'Ring sabre', this is an archaic Yuan period term referring to a sabre. Korean continued to use this terminology in the form of Hwando or 환도 to refer to their sabre).

Unlike its more advanced variant, early Du Lun Che was not equipped with shield or firearm.

Late Version

Basic layout of Du Lun Che, from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

Great Ming Military

6 September 2023

War cart regiment of Zeng Xian (曾銑)

The plan to reclaim Hetao

31 October 2018

Zhang Xue Yan's Zhan Che (戰車)

1 August 2018