It's been a long time since I posted a single chapter, so you may be a little uncomfortable with it.
Today I will briefly talk about bows, arrows, armor and the like.
It has been mentioned many times in previous books that there were no full-time archers for sergeants in the Tang Dynasty. Everyone had to shoot arrows and were equipped with infantry bows.
Among the standard equipment for infantry when going on an expedition, the part about bows and arrows is very clear in historical data: a bow bag to hold the bow tips and bow strings; a quiver to hold thirty arrows; and three pairs of bow strings.
According to the different functions of arrows, they are divided into armor-piercing arrows, long stack arrows, etc.
The Tang army attached great importance to the use of bows and arrows, and its infantry tactics are clearly recorded in Xuanzong's military lectures.
The two armies faced each other, and the infantrymen advanced toward each other holding long spears or rifles.
At a distance of one hundred paces, seventy paces, fifty paces, and thirty paces, everyone put their spears at their feet, listened to the sound of trumpets, and fired volleys with their bows.
After shooting, put the rifle bow on the military uniform (the military uniform is specially designed to hold many things, please refer to the murals for details), pick up the spear, and continue moving forward.
Note: There are no professional archers.
Archers are both spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, and warriors armed with long-handled blunt weapons.
A soldier must be proficient in multiple weapons, which is very different from other dynasties and is rare.
I think it may be the legacy of the imperial army. After the era of the recruitment system, due to the inertia left over, the cost of training infantry remained high. We can see that in the Northern Song Dynasty, all-round soldiers were gradually abolished, and fancy troops became pure troops.
It's obviously due to cost.
Here I would like to mention the difference between the government soldiers and the Ming Dynasty guards soldiers.
To be honest, it's not the same thing.
First of all, the government soldiers had a lot of land and could not cultivate it all themselves. They relied on the help of their subordinates to cultivate the fields. Historical records describe them as conscripts who were "completely off-the-job" or "rarely participated in agricultural labor."
The income of the soldiers depends entirely on farmland output. This is a remnant of the manor system in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and can be regarded as a micro-manor.
The soldiers make their own equipment at their own expense, and usually train their personal martial arts at home, such as riding, archery, spearmanship, swordsmanship, etc. There are intensive trainings several times a year, during which they mainly practice formations, military formations, flags and drums, etc.
Wait for the large army tactics.
Fu soldiers have many privileges, such as tax exemption, etc.
If you have enough land under your name and the country has few foreign wars, your life will be extremely prosperous.
Of course, we also know that as the population of the dynasty increases and land is merged, the land under the name of Fubing will become less and less. For example, in his later years, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty discovered that in some places in Guanzhong, each Fubing only had more than ten acres of land.
He had enough to support his family and had no money left to support training, so he began to immigrate to Kanto to free up land.
But no matter what, land annexation is a general trend. During the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the land owned by Fubing was greatly reduced, completely unable to meet the standard of 140 acres per ding, and its combat effectiveness began to decline. Coupled with frequent expeditions, Fubing began to go bankrupt at an accelerated pace, and a large number of
escape.
By the time of the Xuanzong Dynasty, the imperial army had ceased to exist in name only, and the court began to recruit soldiers, and Tianbao Shijiedu also appeared.
As for the garrison soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, I checked the information and found that on average across the country, each garrison soldier only owned 25-30 acres of land, and this land was not his own, but the country's.
In other words, it is not private ownership.
It is conceivable that as this system develops for decades, the guardsmen will gradually become slaves and tenants of the officers...
After the output of twenty or thirty acres of land was withheld by the officers, it was difficult to make ends meet, let alone participate in high-intensity training. What is the quality of the guardsmen? History tells us that even a few Japanese pirates can stand up to them.
Therefore, many readers equate government soldiers and garrison soldiers, which is inaccurate.
Let’s come back to the issue of bows and arrows.
Some people say "three arrows in battle", a soldier can only fire three arrows at a time.
But what does the ancient book say about the three arrows on the battlefield? It means that the infantry faces the cavalry and charges head-on, but only has time to fire three arrows. It does not mean that you only have the strength to shoot three arrows.
In fact, even if the foot bow is fully drawn, the warriors of the Tang Dynasty can shoot more than ten or twenty arrows in a battle, and the weak ones can shoot about ten, but it is not far behind.
If you take a break after ejaculating for a while, you can ejaculate more.
If it is a riding bow that is soft, has a short arm, and has a short range, it will not be a problem to shoot all thirty arrows in an arrow pot. What's more, whether the bow is fully drawn or not, the energy spent is completely different. In battle
In most cases, the bow will not be fully drawn to shoot.
The military system stipulates that each person should carry thirty arrows, but this is not a waste of time.
Do you know the martial arts examinations in the Tang Dynasty?
The long stack of arrows mentioned above were shot at the crenellations of the city wall.
The martial arts examination requires candidates to shoot 30 arrows at a target at the entrance of the city while sitting down.
Maybe you will say that this is a martial arts examination, and the requirements are high. But they are all professional martial artists. I am not as fierce as you who took the martial arts examination, but I am worse than you. I can shoot more than twenty arrows without any problem - in the quiver
But it is required to bring 30 arrows.
Bows were the treasure of infantry in the Tang Dynasty. Regardless of whether they were combat soldiers or auxiliary soldiers, all soldiers had infantry bows and must be able to shoot arrows.
If the enemy comes wearing iron armor, a bow is the best weapon to kill them. Iron armor has protective power, but it is not absolute.
The armor-piercing arrows mentioned above are designed to deal with iron armor.
There is a record in "New Book of Tang":
(Xue Rengui) was about to leave and had a banquet in the inner hall. The Emperor (Gaozong) said: "In ancient times, there was a man who was good at shooting and penetrated the seven-letter mark. Please try to shoot with five armors."
As soon as Rengui struck the hole, the emperor was shocked and gave him a strong armor.
What does this mean?
Li Zhi said that in ancient times, someone could shoot through seven layers of armor with one arrow. Come and try shooting five layers of armor.
Xue Rengui went up and pierced through with an arrow.
The power of a bow and arrow is directly related to the weight of the bow, distance and other factors.
There is no record of how far Xue Rengui shot, but the power of the walking bow at close range is indeed not something that iron armor can withstand.
In addition, ancient soldiers used different types of arrows for archery in different situations.
To shoot armor, use armor-piercing arrows. This is also stipulated in the Kaiyuan military ceremony. After the mid-Tang Dynasty, it was even more clear that armor-piercing arrows were required.
If armor-piercing arrows cannot penetrate iron armor at close range, then the 30-step volley before the Tang army's infantry formation can be completely cancelled, because the first few rows of infantry must be wearing iron armor, so why shoot?
Under close range shooting with an infantry bow and armor-piercing arrows, the armor worn by ordinary soldiers is really just paper. Unless you have the "hard armor" specially given to Xue Rengui by Li Zhi.
Finally, attach a certain paragraph.
National Geographic conducted tests with Japanese bows and British longbows.
The two bows that participated in the test both adopted the 23kg standard. In ancient times, they were considered medium-sized practical bows.
Japanese bows have longer arrows; British longbows have shorter arrows.
The muzzle velocity of both bows is 34 meters/second.
Test Results:
To human tissue. (No armor)
The Japanese bow shoots to a depth of 30 centimeters; the British longbow shoots to a depth of 25 centimeters.
Japanese bows with long arrows are more powerful.
Pair of European-style chainmail.(mail)
The Japanese bow failed to penetrate; the British bow penetrated.
Because the arrows of British bows are specially designed for chainmail, they are particularly slender and sharp.
Use steel plates for armor (plate armor)
Both bows successfully penetrated.
The conclusion is: both Japanese bows and British bows can shoot through armor.
I haven't seen this, but you can take a look if you are interested.