Zhao Shi Zhen's Hu Tou Che (虎頭車) and Hu Yi Che (虎翼車)

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.

Hu Tou Che (虎頭車) and Hu Yi Che (虎翼車) were two types of war wheelbarrows meant to be used together in a formation. They were comparatively simple designs devised by Ming firearm specialist Zhao Shi Zhen (趙士楨) before he went on to develop the more complex Ying Chang Che (鷹揚車).

Hu Tou Che (虎頭車, lit. 'Tiger head cart')

Drawing of a Hu Tou Che and its sloped protective screen (highlighted), from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.

Hu Tou Che was essentially a wheelbarrow of a fairly typical Chinese design, with two handle bars and a large single wheel placed at the bottom of the barrow. Unlike its civilian counterpart, Hu Tou Che was fitted with a front wooden rack to mount the protective screen, as well as two water tanks beside its wheel that doubled as counterweights. Its sloped protective screen—reminiscence of frontal armour of modern tank—was 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 was constructed in such a way that there was empty space between its two wooden layers that could be filled with dirt (as a defence against firearms). It was usually equipped with two large gun ports designed to accommodate the powerful Ying Yang Pao (鷹揚砲), although some variants may have one additional gun port for either heavy Fo Lang Ji (佛朗機) or Hu Dun Pao (虎蹲砲).

Hu Yi Che (虎翼車, lit. 'Tiger wings cart')

Drawing of a Hu Yi Che and its protective blanket, from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.

Hu Yi Che was similar to Hu Tou Che in most respects, only differ in that it had an additional set of handle bars, two wooden racks so that its protective screen could 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 used a large rectangular blanket as its protective screen, made in the exact same way as the canopy of Ju Ma San (拒馬傘).

Proposed wheelbarrow regiment

Hu Tou Che and Hu Yi Che deployed together, from 'Xu Shen Qi Pu (《續神器譜》)'.

Zhao Shi Zhen proposed a powerful regiment-sized unit for his war wheelbarrows, likely as a throwback to the then-active Ji Defence Region war cart regiments 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!

Read more

Zhao Shi Zhen's Ying Yang Che (鷹揚車)

UPDATED MAY 14, 2023

Left: Inner side of Ying Yang Che. Top Right: Outer side of Ying Yang Che. Bottom Right: A Ying Yang Che with folded protective screens for ease of transportation. From 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Read more

Chinese siege defence

Per the request of my long time reader Yevon, and also due to my recent interest in Stronghold Warlords, let's talk about Chinese siege defence!

Overview

The art of siegecraft in the pre-modern era was incredibly sophisticated and complex, often involving meticulous planning on logistics, morale, tactics, intelligence, diplomancy, and so on. However, when it came to taking direct action against a fortification, the options were surprisingly few. The vast majority of siege tactics all over the pre-modern world generally revolved around contravallation, artillery bombardment, tunnelling and sapping, escalade, siege tower, battering ram as well as thermal attack, and China was no exception. As such, Chinese countermeasures to most siege tactics were more or less identical to strategies developed elsewhere.

What set them apart from other cultures was that larger Chinese walls allowed the defenders to set up heavier and more complex machinery on the battlement, even moving their own siege engines onto the wall to counter enemy siege engines, without the need of artillery positions prebuilt into the wall.

1. Contravallation countermeasure

Contravallation, known as Ju Yin (距堙 or 距闉) and Chang Wei (長圍, lit. 'Long encirclement') in Chinese language, was a tactic used by pretty much all pre-modern armies to lay siege to a fortified position by constructing a line of siegeworks to partially or completely surround the target fortification. Contravallation allowed the attacking party to enforce blockade more effectively, reconnoitre enemy defensive layout from a high position, and even pour suppressive fire against defending troops on the wall. It could also serve as a base for launching assaults against enemy fortification, or for constructing further earthworks such as siege ramps or tunnels. Chinese contravallation tactics range from simple Jin Lang (井闌) towers built atop artificial mounds and ditches, to more elaborate palisades and fortified arrow towers, to full-blown encirclement with networked siege castles.

1.1 Sortie

Due to the limitations of pre-gunpowder siege weapons (stone throwers had limited range and generally could not demolish fortified structures faster than they could be repaired/rebuilt), it was extremely difficult to stop a contravallation attempt once the construction process began. As such, the best countermeasure to enemy contravallation was to sortie out to destroy enemy fortifications, siege engines and earthworks before their completion, preferably with armed escorts and covering fire from friendly troops on the wall. While undoubtedly effective, this tactic was not without downsides, as it was extremely risky and wasn't always viable against numerically superior enemy.

1.2 Counter-tunnel

Just as tunnelling could be used to bring down a fortification, so too it was an effective countermeasure against contravallation. Countermining tactics will be discussed in section 3.2 Countermining.

1.3 Tower hoarding

Multi-storey hoarding built on the wall to offset the height advantage of enemy contravallation.

Read more

Zhao Shi Zhen's Chong Feng Lei Dian Che (衝鋒雷電車)

From left to right: front view, side view and rear view of Chong Feng Lei Dian Che, from 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Chong Feng Lei Dian Che (衝鋒雷電車, lit. 'Assault lightning cart'), also known as Chong Feng Huo Che (衝鋒火車, lit. 'Assault fire cart'), was yet another war wheelbarrow designed by Ming firearm specialist Zhao Shi Zhen (趙士楨). True to its namesake, Chong Feng Lei Dian Che had a more offensive role compared to its smaller cousin. Specifically, it was a close-range incendiary attack weapon that functioned both as a mobile mantlet to protect sappers as they close in to their target under enemy fire, as well as being the primary incendiary weapon itself.

Read more

Zhao Shi Zhen's multipurpose shield

Left: Back view of the multipurpose shield, wheel turned sideways. Centre: Back view of the multipurpose shield. Right: Front view of the multipurpose shield. From 'Shen Qi Pu (《神器譜》)'.

Besides designing new and innovative firearms, Ming firearm specialist Zhao Shi Zhen (趙士禎) also concerned himself with other aspects of Ming warfare. Notably, he was well aware of the common tactics and equipment employed by Ming armies of both the North and the South, and sought to improve their combat effectiveness.

Read more

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 Region 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》)'.

Read more

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 Region (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》)'.

Read more

101st Post: Commonly available visual references for Ming army (and why you shouldn't trust them)

This blog post was originally meant to be part of my 100th post rant, but that one kind of drag on for too long, so I decided to write a separate one. 

I think I have to apologise beforehand if my tone in this blog post sounds too condescending. I know most illustrators are not historians, and it's very hard to reconstruct a historically accurate illustration with the information (which erred plenty) given to them. With that in mind, I have to say they had done a commendable job bringing the past to life.

Men-At-Arms 251 Medieval Chinese Armies 1260 - 1520
Even though I know Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》) is usually the go-to resource for researching Ming Dynasty military, I still find it odd to use a seventeenth century military manual as the reference to research and reconstruct Ming army of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Then again, we have very few pre-sixteenth century sources to work with.


PAGE E

Read more

Rocket weaponry of the Ming Dynasty

UPDATED DECEMBER 9, 2024

Overview

While first rocket was believed to be invented around twelfth century and had been fielded in battle almost as soon as it became viable, it was not until Ming period that rocket was employed en mass as a practical battlefield weapon. Ming weapon engineers constantly sought to create more deadly rocketry, and developed many platforms to better utilise this devastating weapon, whether stationary, handheld or mobile.

Read more

Rocket carts of the Ming Dynasty

IMPORTANT UPDATE NOVEMBER 15, 2024

Ever since the founding of Ming Dynasty, the Chinese had been an avid user of rocket weapon. Early Ming Dynasty rocket cart could have an upward of six hundred rockets, but subsequent redesigns reduced the number of rockets to make the cart more mobile.

Huo Jian Che (火箭車, rocket cart)

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

Read more

Wu Di Shen Pai (無敵神牌)

Drawing of a Wu Di Shen Pai, from sixteenth century military treatise 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.

Wu Di Shen Pai (無敵神牌, lit. "Invincible divine shield") was a type of mantlet used by the Ming army. Essentially a large shield mounted on a wheelbarrow, the shield's wooden construction allowd it to be used as a makeshift raft for river crossing. The eyes, earholes, nostrils and mouth of the painted tiger face on the shield were actually gun loops.

Read more