Po Chuan Fa (破船筏)

Drawing of a Po Chuan Fa, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Po Chuan Fa (破船筏, lit. 'Ship-breaking raft'), also known as Po Chuan Ge (破船舸, lit. 'Ship-breaking barge') was a simple yet effective anti-ship weapon designed for coastal and riverine warfare. It was essentially a heavy log raft assembled from five full-sized, three zhang long tree trunks, waterproofed with tung oil, caulked with putty and hemp, and installed with four to six paddle wheels. For armaments, three Po Zhou Chong (破舟銃, lit. 'Ship-breaking gun') which were essentially oversized Shen Qiang (神鎗) loaded with spear-sized steel darts, were mounted at the bow of the raft. A fully enclosed crew compartment was also built on the raft to allow the crews to operate the guns and paddle wheels in relative safety.

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Patreon post: Total War: Warhammer III Grand Cathay hype

Grand Cathay is coming!

Happy Chinese new year！

With the confirmation that Grand Cathay will be one of the starting factions of Total War: Warhammer III, as well as being introduced to the tabletop for the first time, I've decided to write something to celebrate/hype up the announcement. The article is on my Patreon, but it is public and accessible to everyone. Go read it here!

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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 undermining, 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.

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