11 replies to this topic

[Thomas Chen]

Hi
Could anyone describe the tactics of early chinese armies to me ?
Or place any reference ?
I havent found anything about it. There are million pages about terracotta army, about Qin dynasty but nothing of battles and style.
I would like to know how did typical battle look like. Type of units and their using in action...
Something like this:
battle
Thanks

http://www.chinahist...p?showtopic=234

If anyone wants a bigger picture of the battle formation, let me know...

[Yun]

For a description of Tang battle tactics, read my translation here: http://www.chinahist...wtopic=774&st=0

As for Qin and Han, one place you could look is the military manual by Sun Bin (a descendent of Sunzi/Sun Wu). Ralph Sawyer has made a translation of it: http://ralphsawyer.com/work2.htm

This thread contains formations that are taken from Sun Bin's manual: http://www.chinahist...p?showtopic=100

[Yun]

You're in luck again - horse armour is another big interest of mine. Basically, in the Han dynasty only cavalrymen were armoured with leather lamellar. By the late Han and early Three Kingdoms, there were units of armoured horse cavalry being fielded by the warlord armies, possibly based on influence from the Xianbei and Wuhuan nomads of the northern border. Yuan Shao's army reportedly had 300 sets of horse armour as compared to Cao Cao's 10, and this disparity may be because Yuan had the Wuhuan on his side. Horse armour only became really widespread in the Age of Fragmentation, with armies of thousands of armoured horses. For that, read this thread: http://www.chinahist...?showtopic=2197

And the article by Albert Dien in this thread:
http://www.chinahist...?showtopic=2893

[HaSY]

is there any armor for horses' leg so that the zhanmadao can not slash them?

[Thomas Chen]

is there any armor for horses' leg so that the zhanmadao can not slash them?

Dude

The biomechanical function and anatomy of the horse's legs is such that if one were to put some form of flexible leather armour or chain mail on it.... it might hinder the horse from galloping properly...

However, I do casual recreational horse-riding and did notice that certain stables do strap on some form of synthetic spongy stuff (like nylon) shin guards on the lower part of all 4 legs whenever the horses are led out for trail-riding

Even if the zhanmadao fails to cut thru, I think the sheer impact of the blade on the leg is enough to break the bone within..

One more thing guys... check out this photorealistic and authentic Qin warrior head with its paint still preserved... one of the best preserved ones I have seen... with the paint on the pupils on the eyes still intact...




Yun, check out this antique Northern Qi heavy cav...

http://www.minggalle...7/en9store.html

[Yun]

Yun, check out this antique Northern Qi heavy cav...

http://www.minggalle...7/en9store.html

Now that's a beauty... clearly there was originally a lance and a rear saddle plume (jisheng 寄生) on the figurine, but those were made of biodegradable material and have since decayed.

[Yun]

There is actually no such thing as 'medieval' China, since 'medieval' is just a Western term to denote the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. But scholars have tried to apply the term to Chinese (and also Japanese) history, with very confusing results. One school regards 'medieval' China as being the period from the Song to the early Ming - roughly equivalent to the medieval period in Europe. Another school (which is now more popular) uses medieval China to mean the period from the Three Kingdoms to the end of the Tang, because they see the Age of Fragmentation as having elements of a feudal aristocracy and the Song as having elements of 'modernity'.