Patron only: Source repository of descriptions and visual depictions of the appearance of Koxinga's army and Tie Ren (鐵人)

Written accounts of both Frederick Coyett and Albrecht Herport focused on describing Koxinga's soldiers at Battle of Baxemboy, of which 240 Dutch musketeers led by Captain Thomas Pedel went up against at most 750 Koxinga's soldiers (exaggerated by Frederick Coyett into 4,000) led by commander Chen Ze (陳澤)...

This is a resource dump of sort collecting most of the references and quotes of Tie Ren (鐵人)—Koxinga's elite armoured infantry unit. It is exclusive to my Patrons (both tiers) and can be accessed here. If you like my work, please support me via Patreon!

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Lian Zhu Pao (連珠砲) and Yu Gu Pao (漁皷砲)

Drawing of a Lian Zhu Pao (right) and Yu Gu Pao (left), from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.

Lian Zhu Pao (連珠砲, lit. 'Rapid bead cannon') and Yu Gu Pao (漁皷砲, lit. 'Fisherman's drum cannon') were two types of lightweight cannons commonly used by Ming border armies of the strategically important San Bian (三邊, lit. 'Three borders') of Shaanxi Province, namely Gansu Defence Region (甘肅鎮), Yansui Defence Region (延綏鎮), Ningxia Defence Region (寧夏鎮), as well as the main headquarters, Guyuan Defence Region (固原鎮).

The two cannons were more or less identical, except for the lack of reinforcing hoops in Yu Gu Pao. Both cannons were around three chi in length, six fen in barrel thickness, and had a bore diameter of around one cun one fen (1.4 in / 35.2 mm). Designed to be carriable by just one person, these cannons could either launch a single one cun diameter lead cannonball at considerable distance using five to six liang of gunpowder, or loaded with additional lead or iron pellets for close range scatter shot.

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Hui Ping (灰瓶) and Yan Guan (煙罐)

Some ceramic containers that could be made into Hui Ping and Yan Guan (highlighted), from 'Wu Bei Ji Yao (《武備集要》)'.

Hui Ping (灰瓶, lit. 'Ash bottle') and Yan Guan (煙罐, lit. 'Smoke jar') were two oft-overlooked Ming less-lethal weapons commonly used in siege defence and naval warfare. As their names suggest, Hui Ping was a ceramic bottle filled with quicklime powder, meant to be thrown at enemy soldiers to either blind and suffocate them or to create a slippery surface when scattered on wet decks during naval combat (as quicklime reacts chemically with water and turns into slaked lime, which is notoriously slippery when wet), whereas Yan Guan was a black powder-based ceramic smoke bomb used to create a smoke screen, generate choking smoke, or possibly both.

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