Jue Chong (钁銃)

Drawing of a Jue Chong, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Jue Chong (钁銃, lit. 'Mattock gun'), also known as Gou Tou Chong (勾頭銃, lit. 'Hooked head gun'), was an odd-looking firearm used for siege defence. It was simply a handgonne fixed perpendicularly to a five chi long wooden pole, designed to allow a gunner to shoot at enemy troops at the base of the wall without exposing himself.

Due to the inherent difficulties in aiming with this weapon, Jue Chong was typically loaded with six to seven lead balls to offset its low accuracy. Its muzzle was also sealed with paper in order to prevent the bullets from falling out of the barrel.

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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》)'.

The 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 from all four sides of the cart.

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Square formation of Xu Lun (許論) — Part 2

Variant Formations

While hollow square was the most used formation to defend against cavalry, there were situations where it'd be better to deploy into other formations. Besides the square, Xu Lun (許論) also devised many variant formations for different terrains, as will be shown below:

Chang Zhen (長陣, lit. 'Long formation')

Xu Lun's line formation, from 'Chou Bian Zuan Yi (《籌邊纂議》)'.

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