Li Tou Biao (犁頭鏢)

Li Tou Biao (犁頭鏢, lit. 'Plough head javelin')

Drawing of a Li Tou Biao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Li Tou Biao was a type of specialised harpoon designed for naval warfare. Unlike regular javelin, Li Tou Biao had a very long shaft and weighted spearhead. It was designed to be thrown from a high place (i.e. a fighting top of a large warship) at a target positioned at lower place (i.e. a small boat, enemy boarding parties. etc.), in a fashion not unlike traditional spearfishing. The heavy spearhead of Li Tou Biao could damage or even outright punch through a smaller boat.

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Tie Bian (鐵鞭) and Tie Jian (鐵鐧)

Tie Bian (鐵鞭, lit. 'iron whip')

Drawing of a Tie Bian (highlighted), from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

The Tie Bian, often shortened as simply Bian (鞭, whip), was a type of Chinese blunt weapon. It was a segmented solid metal rod with multiple prominent bamboo-like nodes mounted on a sword hilt. The metal rod of the Tie Bian usually had rounded cross section.

Tie Jian (鐵鐧 or 鐵簡, lit. 'Iron slip')

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

The Tie Jian, also known simply as Jian (鐧), was a subtype of the same me. Like the Tie Bian, it was a solid metal rod mounted on a sword hilt, although it did not have nodes, and had a concave square cross section. The Tie Jian resembled the Chinese Tie Chi (鐵尺) Okinawan Sai (釵, lit. 'Hairpin') and the Japanese Jitte (十手, lit. 'Ten hands') superficially, and was the predecessor of both of them, although it was much longer.

The Tie Jian was occasionally used as a throwing weapon, which gave rise to the idiom "Sa Shou Jian (撒手鐧, lit. 'Cast away Jian')" that was later corrupted into "Sha Shou Jian (殺手鐧, lit. 'Killing hand Jian', also translated as 'Assassin's mace')".

Tie Jian made by famous Northern Song general Li Gang (李綱), currently kept at Fujian Museum. This specimen has a length of 38", and weighs 8 lbs.

While both the Tie Bian and the Tie Jian were often compared to law enforcement weapon such as (police) baton, they were in fact deadly battlefield weapons designed to kill. They fulfill the same role as mace and war hammer — to bypass heavy armour with blunt trauma.

Tie Bian and Tie Jian had several advantages over typical mace and war hammer. They had more reach and better balance than their top-heavy counterparts, and thus could deliver faster blows more rapidly. They were also compatible with most forms of sword techniques, including thrusting and parrying. A blow from these weapons was very hard to parry, and body armour and helmet offered little protection against the blunt trauma inflicted by this devastating weapon.

Two-handed version

Two-handed Tie Jian (left) and Tie Bian (right), from 'Wu Bei Yao Lue (《武備要略》)'.

An extremely rare two-handed Jian. Private collection.

Two-handed version of Tie Bian and Tie Jian also existed. Comparable in size to Chang Dao (長刀), two-handed Tie Bian and Tie Jian were significantly heavier than their smaller counterparts. They also drew some parallels to European estoc.

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Piao Shi (飃石)

Drawing of a Piao Shi, from 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)'.

Piao Shi (飃石, lit. 'Whirlwind stone'), also known as Shou Pao (手砲, lit. 'Hand trebuchet') during Song period, was the Chinese name for staff sling. It consisted of a short cord tied to one end of a five chi bamboo pole, and was usually employed in siege defence alongside larger stone throwers.

Sling was actually comparatively rare in China, as sheep husbandry wasn't an important part of ancient China's agricultural economy.

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