Were flail knights and meteor hammer knights popular in ancient China?

In the Tang dynasty, flail was used by military strategists as a weapon to defend the city. Du You once mentioned his role in guarding the city in Tongdian (volume 152) and Wu Bing's Law of Refusal: "Flail, like a grain flail, hits the enemy outside the women's wall." These simple words tell us that the flail as a weapon is not directly taken from farm tools, but is specially made and looks like a flail, but it must be heavier and stronger than the farmer's flail, otherwise it will not have enough lethality. Song Dynasty was a dynasty that used flail in popularity. Flail was not only used to defend cities, but also became a very important weapon on horseback. Let's talk about guarding the city first. Previously on guarding the city by Wu Yao says: "If more and more people board the ship, you will be beaten with a spike;" When your hand climbs the city, hit it with a flail stick. " At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, stereotyped writing wrote a book "Guarding the City" based on its own personal experience. In the third volume, Defending De 'an Palace, he wrote: "The people in the city refused to retreat with bricks and stones, even with sticks, spears and crossbows." "Flail stick" should be a synonym for "flail stick". From the above two examples, it is not difficult to see that the Song Dynasty used flail to defend the city, which was inherited from the Tang Dynasty. Its main function is to deal with enemy soldiers who have climbed the city head-using the structural characteristics of flail to attack the hands and heads of enemies exposed under the crib. The flail used by cavalry belongs to short soldiers, and some are made of iron. As the Southern Song Dynasty carefully said, "It is also beneficial to use iron as a short soldier. "Some of them are made of wood, and they are covered with iron sheets or iron hoops." The Outline of Wu Jing Qian Ji Yi Tu has its schema (see Figure 1), and there is also a passage that says: "The iron chain clip originated from Xirong and is ready to use. The infantry of the enemy Han is like the flail of a farmer beating wheat, decorated with iron pieces, which is conducive to hitting from above, so the Han soldiers make good use of it. "The so-called' Xirong' should refer to Xixia, which had a long-term confrontation with the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, ethnic minorities in the north and northwest, such as Khitan, Nuzhen and Xixia, have used iron weapons, such as iron whip, iron sword and iron cone, in addition to iron chains and bars. This is of course related to the fact that ethnic minorities are good at riding and fighting. It is a technical advantage for ethnic minorities to make full use of the impact of galloping horses and exert superb riding skills to attack the Han army wearing high-quality armor with heavy weapons, especially "attacking infantry from above". That's why the famous joke "Jin Guo hits the stick, China has the crown" appeared in the early Southern Song Dynasty. Song Jun, which has been struggling with ethnic minorities for a long time, cannot but notice each other's advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is a remarkable feature of military equipment in the Song Dynasty to vigorously develop cavalry and use weapons to strike immediately. The application of the theory of "iron chain clamping rod" to "Xirong" is a good example.

Flail, a weapon used by the Han people to defend the city, was transformed and utilized by ethnic minorities, then spread to the land of the Han people and adopted by the Central Plains Dynasty. In addition, the spread process of Han soldiers' good use of weapons vividly reflects that multi-ethnic cultural exchanges played a very important role in the formation and development of China's ancient martial arts system. Wu Yao is an official military classic in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the weapons contained in it are the basic equipment of the Northern Song army. It can be seen that the chain tongs are also one of the conventional weapons in the Song army. The ancient military weapons were generally produced and managed by the government, with certain production standards and strict systems. In the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty (104 1), Han Qi, a famous soldier, worked out a variety of weight specifications and martial arts assessment methods for soldiers on horseback, which stipulated: "iron whip, Tie Slipper, Club, Double Sword, Axe and Flail are the same method, each weighing ten kilograms, etc., but those who are really strong should take it around." The cangue immediately, like iron whip and Tiejian, should be single and double, which is not reflected in General Theory of Jason Wu, but it can be inferred from Shuang Bian, Shuangjian and Shuangjian, which are common in Song Dynasty, and can also be confirmed from the double cangue stick in Qing Dynasty. Two flail systems weigh ten Jin, and one treaty weighs five Jin. The weight standard in Song Dynasty was slightly higher than that in modern times, and five catties was about six catties now. It should be said that this weight is very moderate. Although the weapons used by some people with superior brawn greatly exceed this weight standard, this is an extremely rare phenomenon and not universal. Di Qing, a famous singer in the Song Dynasty, used iron cangue in the war to quell the rebellion of Lingnan farmers, which became a famous example of using iron cangue to defeat the enemy. "Ceng Gong Collection" Volume 52 "Mr. Nanfeng's Miscellaneous Knowledge of Two Foreign Languages" contains: "First, (Di) Qing has left two thousand behind the enemy. Yes, before and after the converging attack. The thief levied, the army, the horse and the army could not fight, but the sergeant immediately hit them with an iron cangue, so they were invincible and defeated. In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of farm tool was used by military strategists as a weapon to defend the city. Du You once mentioned his role in guarding the city in the General Code (volume 152) and Wu Bing's Law of Refusal: "Flail, like a grain flail, strikes the enemy outside the women's wall. "This simple dozen words tell us that the flail as a weapon is not directly taken from farm tools, but is specially made and looks like a flail, but it must be heavier and stronger than the farmer's flail, otherwise it will not have enough lethality. Song Dynasty was a dynasty that used flail in popularity. Flail was not only used to defend cities, but also became a very important weapon on horseback. Let's talk about guarding the city first. " Previously on Wu Yao, "Guarding the City" said: "If more and more people board the ship, you will be beaten with a spike; When your hand climbs the city, hit it with a flail stick. "At the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, stereotyped writing wrote a book" Guarding the City "according to its own personal experience. In the third volume, Defending De 'an Palace, he wrote: "The people in the city refused to retreat with bricks and stones, even with sticks, spears and crossbows." "Flail stick" should be a synonym for "flail stick". From the above two examples, it is not difficult to see that the Song Dynasty used flail to defend the city, which was inherited from the Tang Dynasty. Its main function is to deal with enemy soldiers who have climbed the city head-using the structural characteristics of flail to attack the hands and heads of enemies exposed under the crib. The flail used by cavalry belongs to short soldiers, and some are made of iron. As the Southern Song Dynasty carefully said, "It is also beneficial to use iron as a short soldier. "Some of them are made of wood, and they are covered with iron sheets or iron hoops." The Outline of Wu Jing Qian Ji Yi Tu has its schema (see Figure 1), and there is also a passage that says: "The iron chain clip originated from Xirong and is ready to use. The infantry of the enemy Han is like the flail of a farmer beating wheat, decorated with iron pieces, which is conducive to hitting from above, so the Han soldiers make good use of it. "The so-called' Xirong' should refer to Xixia, which had a long-term confrontation with the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, ethnic minorities in the north and northwest, such as Khitan, Nuzhen and Xixia, have used iron weapons, such as iron whip, iron sword and iron cone, in addition to iron chains and bars. This is of course related to the fact that ethnic minorities are good at riding and fighting. It is a technical advantage for ethnic minorities to make full use of the impact of galloping horses and exert superb riding skills to attack the Han army wearing high-quality armor with heavy weapons, especially "attacking infantry from above". That's why the famous joke "Jin Guo hits the stick, China has the crown" appeared in the early Southern Song Dynasty. Song Jun, which has been struggling with ethnic minorities for a long time, cannot but notice each other's advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is a remarkable feature of military equipment in the Song Dynasty to vigorously develop cavalry and use weapons to strike immediately. The application of the theory of "iron chain clamping rod" to "Xirong" is a good example.

Flail, a weapon used by the Han people to defend the city, was transformed and utilized by ethnic minorities, then spread to the land of the Han people and adopted by the Central Plains Dynasty. In addition, the spread process of Han soldiers' good use of weapons vividly reflects that multi-ethnic cultural exchanges played a very important role in the formation and development of China's ancient martial arts system. Wu Yao is an official military classic in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the weapons contained in it are the basic equipment of the Northern Song army. It can be seen that the chain tongs are also one of the conventional weapons in the Song army. The ancient military weapons were generally produced and managed by the government, with certain production standards and strict systems. In the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty (104 1), Han Qi, a famous soldier, worked out a variety of weight specifications and martial arts assessment methods for soldiers on horseback, which stipulated: "iron whip, Tie Slipper, Club, Double Sword, Axe and Flail are the same method, each weighing ten kilograms, etc., but those who are really strong should take it around." The cangue immediately, like iron whip and Tiejian, should be single and double, which is not reflected in General Theory of Jason Wu, but it can be inferred from Shuang Bian, Shuangjian and Shuangjian, which are common in Song Dynasty, and can also be confirmed from the double cangue stick in Qing Dynasty. Two flail systems weigh ten Jin, and one treaty weighs five Jin. The weight standard in Song Dynasty was slightly higher than that in modern times, and five catties was about six catties now. It should be said that this weight is very moderate. Although the weapons used by some people with superior brawn greatly exceed this weight standard, this is a very rare phenomenon and not universal. Di Qing, a famous singer in the Song Dynasty, used iron cangue in the war to quell the rebellion of Lingnan farmers, which became a famous example of using iron cangue to defeat the enemy. "Ceng Gong Collection" Volume 52 "Mr. Nanfeng's Miscellaneous Knowledge of Two Foreign Languages" contains: "First, (Di) Qing has left two thousand behind the enemy. Yes, before and after the converging attack. The thief levied, the army, the horse and the army could not fight, but the sergeant immediately hit them with an iron cangue, so they were invincible and defeated.