In terms of warring states military, what does 蒺藜 means ? Is it a weapon or a form of military unit ?

蒺藜 Ji2 Li2 - This is a type of old weapon

"Ji Li" is also referring to a type of herbal medicine.

Check
http://cb.kingsoft.com/search?lang=utf-8&s...97%9C&d=PWDCCAC
for the dictionary explanation.

Jili were caltrops, spiked objects scattered on the ground or in moats to pierce the feet of enemy attackers. See:
http://nd.cnnb.com.cn/article.html?id1=1202

Jili is somewhat equivalent to today's "mine" (in modern warfare to stop tanks/infantry approaching).

These are obstacles that chinese troops deployed to stop infantry/cavalry advance.

wat dynasty is this from...
the ninjistus used caltrops did they learn from the chinese

http://nd.cnnb.com.cn/article.html?id1=1202

I'll translate the above:

The use of Jili began during the warring states period. After Qin and han dynasty, Jili has always been the chinese army's defensive weaponry. Besides laying them at roads, defensive region, around the walls of city etc, the chinese army also put them around their military camps when they were on mission/campaigns. During the Song dynasty, the variety of different types of "Jili" increase. For instance, those deployed in water were known as "tie ling Jiao 铁菱角", those used on wooden floor are known as "di se 地涩", those used to block horses are known as "ti 蹄", some were even stained with poisons known as "Gui Jian 鬼箭". The ming dynasty troops also greatly used Jili. The Jili was made of iron casting, but other materials such as bamboo, wood, ceramics can be used as well. This was an effective obstacle weaponry.

Note that the Jili can also have holes in them which can have chain-ropes to strap through, forming a chain of "Jili". This makes it easier to lay the Jili as well as to re-coil them back after use.

Thanks guys
much appreciated

Actually, the Jili was usually used as a form of weapon to halt the advancement of cavalry. It functions a little like the mines of today. Usually, each Jili is linked together by chain-wire (ropes) and can be easily deployed on land. When the horses of the enemy cavalry passes by, the Jili would pierce and hurt the horses's feet causing them to fall, stopping or delaying the advancement of cavalry. When unused, they are rolled up.

In the Drama series "Genghis Khan" filmed by PRC, there are scenes of this weapon. When the Mongols discover the Jin army deploying the Jili to stop/delay their cavalry advancement, they collected these weapons and used that against the Jin army later on.

did other culutres around the world invent the caltrop or is a chinese one?

Seen examples of that specific implement in Ninja books.

I read somewere that alexander the greats army spread out caltrops in front of phalanx btw this link is highly dubious in historical accuracy

Fairly common. Romans were particuarly fond of them.

Here is one more complete picture of the Caltrop. It shows the different design of chinese spikes and that they can all be tied together with ropes.

From Japanese Source：Ancient Chinese Weapons 中国兵器大全 - 筱田耕一



Appearance and Usage

Caltrops were used as a form of obstacle to prevent movement of enemies.

It comprised of :
1) Natural Caltrops such as those of spikey fruits
2) Artificial Caltrops made of iron

Chinese Caltrop has a length of about 4- 5 cm and can be linked together by rope through holes in the center of the caltrops. According to the Ming military text Jixiao Xinshu 《纪效新书》, in 1.6m rope, the normal pitch (i.e. the distance between each caltrop) is around 30 cm, and there would be about 6 caltrops. Normally, there were already connected and can be laid onto the group easily.

When caltrops were to be carried or transported, they were to be placed onto a bamboos container with a wooden cover. When in use, the wooden cover is removed, one can easily turn the container upside down and easily laid the caltrops onto ground without hurting the hand. Caltrops can be painted with feces/urine of poisonous venom, in which case, its killing rate will increase. Because of this, iron caltrops were also known as "Gui Jian 鬼箭" (which means "ghostly arrow")

Another type of caltrop was known as "tie ling jiao 铁菱角" (metal oblique spike). They were normally distributed on the ditch (defensive canal) of city, used for harming the legs of enemy or cavalry's horses.

Other types of caltrops include "Di Ze 地泽“ (land swamp), which had wooden needles nailed onto the caltrops and were used for piercing the legs of horseshoes. There were also specialised caltrops used for toppling the cavalry horses, known as "Ti Quan 踢圈"， “Ma Tuo 马托“ etc.

Here are some more info about the history and development of chinese caltrops:


Caltrop were first used during Spring/Autumn period. In the book "Mozi 《墨子》", it stated that chinese caltrops were used as a defensive siege weapon, deployed around the ditches (defensive river) around the city. As to whether the caltrop was natural or artificial, it was unknown. However, what was clear was that the earliest chinese caltrops were 'natural' caltrops. Later, in order to increase its power, there was a unified specification to produce artificial iron caltrops.

The iron caltrops could possibly appeared latest around Eastern Han period. During 3 kingdoms period, Zhugeliang of Shu state and Sima Yi of Wei state fought at the Plain of Wuzhang. Zhugeliang passed away during that time. In order to stop the advance of Wei Army, the Shu Army retreated while at the same time, spreaded and distributed the Caltrops. To react against this, Sima Yi produced the boots made of soft wooden base, thus counteracting the threat of Caltrops. From the archaeological excavation of battle of Wei-Wu state at Hefei, we could verify that "Di Ze 地泽" could have been used during 3 kingdoms period. " Chou Di 搊蹄" could be used during Age of fragmentation period, used to counteract against Cavalry.