Song steel arbalest - aka Divine Armed Crossbow - 神臂弩

I heard of this from a previous thread, where can I find info on it, perhaps a depiction?

I've never heard of steel crossbows used in China before, I always thought they only went up to composite bows.

According to my book on Chinese weapons, these are the statistics of the Shenbi Nu (Divine-armed Crossbow) or Shenbi Gong (Divine-armed Bow):

Bow span - 98cm
Length - 140cm
String length - 77cm
Effective range - 150m
Maximum range - 370-460m
The penetrating power is such that the bolt can pierce two layers of iron lamellar even at the extreme range of 460m.

The arm of the bow is made of wood, but the arming foot-stirrup is made of steel and the crossbow mechanism of bronze. So it is not strictly speaking a steel crossbow - only a larger crossbow that is armed by stepping with one foot on a steel stirrup attached to the stock, while pulling the bow string with both arms. This was probably one of the first stirrup-armed crossbows in history, since the first depiction of a stirrup-armed crossbow is in the Wujing Zongyao, written around 1044. Before that, the crossbowman had to step on the bow arm with both feet while pulling the bow string, which could damage the bow arm and also allowed less use of leg power.

According to the "Mengxi Bitan" by Shen Kuo of the Song dynasty, the Shenbi Nu was invented between 1068 and 1077 by a man of the Xi Xia empire named Li Ding (but named as Li Hong in the Song official history). It came to the Song empire in the form of a tribute offering by the Xi Xia. The Song emperor was so impressed by the power of this crossbow that he ordered it to be manufactured by the imperial armouries as a standard weapon for the Song armies. The Jin (Jurchen) heavy cavalry, whose "Iron Pagoda" elite unit who wore two layers of iron lamellar, were said by the famous commander Wanyan Wushu to fear only two Song weapons - the pole-axe (which could be used by infantry to chop the legs of horses, as Yue Fei did), and even more than that the Shenbi Nu.

The famous Song general Han Shizhong developed an improved version called the Kedi Gong (Enemy-vanquishing Bow) in 1135, in the critical years after the fall of the Northern Song. Its maximum range increased to 553m, and it was extremely effective against Jin heavy cavalry.

Hmmm... interesting!

Any pictures?

No surviving pictures of the Shenbi Nu, I'm afraid - the only one in my book is an imagined reconstruction that is just a normal crossbow with a foot stirrup, and possibly a small cranked windlass with claws to make the drawing easier than simply pulling on the bowstring.

If it has such penetrating power at its maximum range why is its effective range listed as only 150m unless it cant be aimed propally at higher ranges but when shooting at a mass this wont matter so why. what happnes after 150 metres that makes this weapon inefective

Sorry, but my imagination fails here.

Was the bow arm now strengthened by steel or not? If not, then how could this crossbow achieved greater range and power?

[i]The famous Song general Han Shizhong developed an improved version called the Kedi Gong (Enemy-vanquishing Bow) in 1135, in the critical years after the fall of the Northern Song. Its maximum range increased to 553m, and it was extremely effective against Jin heavy cavalry.[i]

This sounds more like a large siege type weapon (like the triple crossbow) rather than a hand held crossbow. Any depictions of the 'enemy-vanquishing bow'?

cheers

chris

I was wondering, did the Jin, Liao, and XiXia dynasties ever use the Divine Armed crossbow, or was it just a Song thing? I have heard of many Song reports of the weapon, but I don't recall hearing of the other Chinese dynasties of the same period using it, but only of Song soldiers using the weapon against Jin and Liao soldiers.

The Song actually got the Shenbinu as a gift from Xi Xia, so the Xia must have used it too.

It is said that the Shenbinu was one of the only two Song weapons feared by the Jin army. But there is no indication the Jin successfully adopted it themselves.

What was it that made the Shenbinu so feared?

Its ability to launch the bolt with such power that it could penetrate two layers of iron lamellar. This made it the only weapon that could directly kill the Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry of the Jin army - which had two layers of iron lamellar. The other weapon that the Jin feared was the pole-axe, which could indirectly take the Iron Pagodas down by chopping the legs of their horses.

Ah... any known estimates of it's drawstrength or overall bow dimensions?

See this post above: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...t&p=4692606

kekekeke, oops. Thanks again Yun. It's not a very large bow at 1.4m.

It appears that there are different types of ShenBiNu, am I correct? First I noticed things about the different ranges given. Second I found out that some are drawn by a stirrup, some drawn by a belt hook, and some drawn on a table, as if it's a ballista of some sort.

kill the Iron Pagoda heavy cavalry of the Jin army - which had two layers of iron lamellar. The other weapon that the Jin feared was the pole-axe, which could indirectly take the Iron Pagodas down by chopping the legs of their horses.

I haven't heard or don't remember running across the term Pagoda for heavy cavalry. What does it mean? I thought pagoda referred to a buddhist religous tower or structure.

Was the da fu or pole axe used for chopping the legs of the horse? I realize the zhan ma dao and the two handed axe were used and that the Jin feared the pole axe but was the pole axe used in the same manner as the 2 handed sword or axe?

cheers

chris

The term was Tie Futu, which could mean either "Iron Buddha" or "Iron Pagoda". The 'pagoda' reading is more likely, and it alludes to the image of these heavy cavalry being so formidable they were like moving towers.

Yue Fei's army used pole-axes and a weapon called the mazhadao to defeat Jin heavy cavalry in one important battle, by chopping the horses' legs. This was later developed into the story (most likely mythical) that the Jin 'guaizima' (limping horse) formation was made up of pairs of horses chained together for greater shock effect, and that Yue Fei 'discovered' that chopping the leg of one horse in the pair would bring both down. In fact, the guaizima (which already appears in the early Northern Song Wujing Zongyao as the name for a formation) was just a term referring to the two wings of cavalry on either side of a formation. Yue Fei's grandson invented the 'chained horses' story, and it found its way into the Song Shi official history.

We know that the zhanmadao was developed in the Northern Song dynasty for use against heavy cavalry, but whether the zhanmadao and Yue Fei's mazhadao were the same weapon cannot be discerned from the records. There is no account of zhanmadao being used against Jin cavalry.

ran min fought the guaizima,why isnt it true?

That's different. Ran Min's last battle against the Murong Xianbei saw an entire square of Murong cavalry being chained together to form a massed horse-archery battery that couldn't be broken by infantry. They were never called 'guaizima', and their function was static defence rather than shock charges. The picture of the guaizima given in the Song Shi is that of pairs of horses chained together for charging at infantry.

The only similarity at all would be the chains.