When it comes to ancient heavy weapons, the first thing you may think of is Guan Yu Qinglong Yanyue Knife , Li Yuanba 800 kilograms 1 drum jar golden hammer , and Xiang Yu 2318 kilograms of Tianlong Breaking City Halberd.
However, these are not historical facts after all.
Li Yuanba is a fictional character.
Guan Gong 's Qinglong Yanyue Sword has been proven to appear after the Song Dynasty and did not have this smelting technology during the Three Kingdoms period. Guan Yu himself actually used weapons such as guns and spears. The word "sting" from "Spike Yan Liang and the crowd" has explained everything.
As for Xiang Yu's Tianlong Breaking City Halberd, there is no historical document that can prove that it weighs more than 300 kilograms. Moreover, the weight of the Breaking City Halberd, Xiang Yu himself and a suit of armor is nearly half a ton. Even if Xiang Yu "can carry a tripod", the war horses can't stand it (the load bearing of the horse is indeed quite amazing, but the limit load load of Xinjiang and Mongolian horses with the strongest endurance is only about 1,000 kilograms). If one kilogram is equivalent to the current 250 grams according to the Qin system, the weight of the city halberd is 150 kilograms, which is barely acceptable.
If you want to consider how heavy is the real weapon in history? There are two ways: one is historical records, and it must be official history; the other is tomb archaeology.
Let’s first look at the historical records:
1. Qin Han:
"Records of the Grand Historian: The Family of Liuhou" records that Zhang Liang made a warrior carry 120 kilograms of iron rush to stab King of Qin , but if this big iron rush is calculated based on the current weight, it is actually only 60 kilograms.
Three Kingdoms Dianwei "Hold a pair of halberds for eighty jin" ("Three Kingdoms · Book of Wei"), which is equivalent to a modern weight of more than 35 jin.
2. Sui and Tang :
Tang Dynasty in the mid-term popular battle with Modao . The most famous one is Modao Li Siye . In the battle of Gao Xianzhi against Bolu and An Lushan Xiangji Temple, he used 20 kilograms of Modao. "Siye took off his clothes and fought, holding a 20 kilogram long knife and shouted." Tang Dynasty is equal to 600 grams of current, and Modao held only 24 kilograms of Modao.
" New Book of Tang " Volume 193 "Biography of Zhang Xing": "As a general of Raoyang, An Lushan rebelled and attacked Raoyang, Xing held a armor and held a Mo sword, weighing fifteen kilograms. The enemy climbed the city, Xing raised a knife to kill people, and the enemy was afraid." Zhang Xing held a Mo sword and killed everyone, and the enemy was afraid." Zhang Xing held a Mo sword and killed everyone, and the enemy was afraid.
In addition, Tian Zhen, the famous general who used Mo Dao in the Tang Dynasty, also said, "It is good at using two-edged swords, one meter long, and is famous for Rimo Dao. With one wave, it kills several people, and there is no firmness before." "The Biography of Pei Xingjian" and "The Biography of Cui Guangyuan" also record stories of using Mo Dao to fight, but neither record the weight.
In fact, the main weapon that the generals of the Tang Dynasty fought immediately was horse lance , such as Yuchi Gong , one of the two gods, who defeated Shan Xiong, was the horse lance. "Shichong's general Shan Xiongxin leads the cavalry directly towards Taizong, Jingde jumps on the horse and shouts, and stabs Xiongxin falls off the horse."
Li Cunxiao is a famous two-handed general in history, holding Yuwang spear in the right hand and holding Bi Yan in the left hand. However, its main weapon, Yuwang Spear, is only 40 kilograms, and its auxiliary weapon is only 15 kilograms. "The five cows cannot split their corpse" is purely a myth and cannot be true.
3, th dynasty two Song Dynasty:
"New History of the Five Dynasties·Biography of Wang Jingli" records that "Jingli is a handsome man, and Shen Yong is powerful, and he makes good use of iron gun , weighing thirty kilograms." According to the calculation of 660 grams per kilogram in the Five Dynasties, the weight is about 40 kilograms, which is roughly equivalent to a barbell rod.
"History of the Song Dynasty·Eleventh of the Soldiers" records that in April of the third year of Xianping, Jiao Wei, the deputy envoy of the Divine Cavalry, "provided a plate of iron spear, weighing fifteen kilograms, and ordered Wei to test it. The horse was back and forth and flying, and ordered him to be transferred to his army." There was also Fashan, the monk of Xiangguo Temple, who returned to the secular world and joined the army, used an iron wheel to weigh thirty-three kilograms, and had a blade on the head and tail. He was the main weapon for his battle immediately.
In history, it is known as the "Li Iron Gun" Southern Song leader of the anti-Jin rebel army, Li Quan, and the "Sui Iron Gun" Yuan Dynasty fierce general Sui Shichang both "hold 40 kilograms of iron gun", which is now more than 47 kilograms.
Low let's look at the weight of weapons unearthed in each dynasty:
1, Yuewang Sword
Legendary Yuewang Goujian Sword not only weighs 60 kilograms, but also cuts iron like mud. The artifact is even more aware of its master. Only Goujian can be used by itself. If it were other people, they would not even be able to lift it.
However, the real situation is: the King of Yue (the inscription "King of Yue" on the hilt of the sword unearthed in 1983 was unearthed in the Chu Tomb in Pingliangtai, Huaiyang. It is not only the great-grandson of the King of Yue Goujian ) was 59.9 cm long and 5.4 cm wide, it looks like a long dagger, and its weight is less than 5 kilograms. Even if there is a factor of loss, the actual weight will not exceed 10 kilograms.
2. The sword of the ancient mainstream weapons
Unearthed in Xi'an from The long iron sword from the Western Han Dynasty years is about 96 cm long and weighs only 800 grams, which is 1.6 kilograms;
The joint tomb of Li Xian and his wife in Ningxia during the Northern Zhou period, a complete sheathed ring head was unearthed. The iron knife is about 94 cm long, and the weight of the sheath is 1315 grams, only 2.6 catties;
and the more "younger" late Qing Dynasty cockscomb head sword, which is the very common big knife in the Anti-Japanese War drama. It has a total length of 97 cm, weighs more than 1500 grams, and is more than 3 catties;
Don't think it is too light. In fact, this weight is more in line with the actual use function of the sword.
3. Ancient heavy weapons
In Fujian Museum , there is a treasure of an ancient Song Dynasty mace, which is the four-edged gold-mounted mace (four-sided body, and prism-shaped) used by Lieutenant Chi Gong and Qin Qiong of Romance novels. It has a total length of 96.5 cm and is much heavier than a sword, but it is only more than 3,600 grams, which is 7.2 kilograms.
According to historical records, Wu Sangui is born with divine power, which makes a big knife weighing fifty kilograms. When he was guarding the border, he was like a bandit soldier who was killing with this knife. However, the tomb of Wu Sangui excavated in Yunnan completely subverts this record. There are many burial objects in the tomb. In addition to cultural relics such as gold, silver and bamboo slips, the most eye-catching one is Wu Sangui's big sword. But when the expert picked up the knife and weighed it, he found that it was only 12 kilograms.
Similar situations are Li Chuang's general Gao Jie . According to historical records, Gao Jie is also born with divine power and is good at using one-handed iron sticks. Although the specific weight is not recorded, it can be imagined that the weight of the iron rod should be not light in contact with the full text. But later a small-scale ancient tomb was unearthed in Guizhou, which was proved to be Gao Jie's. There was indeed no gold, silver and treasures inside. The only thing that was conspicuous was his weapon and iron stick. But after weighing it, it was really surprising that it only had 14 kilograms.
is the rake that was once a powerful weapon in the army during the Anti-Japanese War in the Ming Dynasty (similar to wolf wisp invented by Qi Jiguang , which can be slapped and defended). Archaeology has proven that it weighs only 5 kilograms and is about 2.4 meters long.
4. Ancient light weapons
In addition to common bows and crossbows, there are more than a dozen types of light weapons in ancient times, which are diverse and strange. For example, a throwing weapon - a collapsed cable. Wu Zetian Khitan Li Kaigu is good at using ropes, riding and shooting, and dancing. Every time he charges, he is like "geese enter the flock of birds, invincible. In the battle of Huang Qing, Zhang Xuanyu and Ma Renjie are both collapsed." Another example is a hammer-shaped weapon - Golden Gourd, which has a spherical small hammer on the top. Although it is called a "hammer", it weighs only more than 1,000 grams.
Because light weapons are not the focus of this article, the list is only as follows (all the unearthed cultural relics weigh):
1. The dart is about 10 cm long and weighs about 0.2 kg.
2. Each piece of locust stone weighs about 0.2 kg.
3, meteor hammer weighs about 1.5-2.5 kg.
4. The total weight of the Thunderbolt drill hammer is about 1.5-2 kg.
5. The rope dart is about 0.2 meters long and weighs about 0.3 kilograms.
6. The bamboo arrow containing iron weighs about 0.1 kg.
7. The bamboo arrow weighs about 0.01 kg.
Judging from the literature records and unearthed cultural relics, the weight of ancient weapons is not very terrifying. It almost does not exceed 50 kilograms, but this is also in line with common sense.
However, in history, there are still some "genius" fierce men who use special, aggravated weapons, such as Yue Fei's son Yue Yun to use hammers, "Each battle, two hammers weigh 80 kilograms with their hands." ("History of Song Dynasty·Biography of Yue Fei"), which is equivalent to modern weight of 95.5 kilograms.
Another example is that during the Five Dynasties period, the Houliang generals Wang Yanzhang made the two iron spears "all weighing hundreds of kilograms, one is placed in the saddle and the other is in the hand, and the direction is in front of you." (" Zizhi Tongjian "), which is equivalent to the modern weight of 136 kilograms.
Currently, the two largest weapons have been recorded in historical materials. One is the famous general Lu Xiangsheng in the late Ming Dynasty, which is described in " Ming Shi ". The weapon used is a big knife weighing 140 kilograms, and the other is a big knife weighing 141 kilograms of anti-Japanese general Liu Jing.
However, since the ancients liked to use exaggerated methods to express the courage of military generals, the records in historical materials may not be completely accurate. It is difficult to say whether Yue, Wang, Lu, and Liu were innocently caught in the gun.
