In primitive society, in the Longshan culture stage, the main tools used by human beings were stones, in addition to some bone and wooden tools, but the latter was not the main one. It was not until the end of Longshan culture that occasional metal tools were unearthed. Therefore, there may be bronzes available when Dayu was in charge of water conservancy, but there were definitely no bronzes during the Yellow Emperor's period (from the current evidence), so the war between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou was actually a group of people holding stone axes and sticks. Legends of later generations have played up this war, which is similar to the romance of ghosts and gods.
Stone axes and shovels from the Stone Age collected in the museum.
To the Shang Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty unearthed in Anyang, Henan Province, was inlaid with dragon-patterned copper, bismuth and jade ge, which was 35.4 cm long. Yugo has a straight blade and an arc-shaped back, engraved with animal faces, a blade edge on the back, and a bronze handle. ? Turquoise is inlaid with animal face patterns, dragon patterns and banana leaf patterns, which are exquisite. Many historical materials have records of nine ambassadors and five soldiers. For example, "Guan Di Zi Shu Pian" said: "The mountain of Gru starts from the water, followed by gold, and it is human-god. He thinks that swords, spears and halberds are princes suitable for all ages. When the mountain of the fox comes out of the water, gold will follow, and Chiyou will let it go. He thinks that Ji of the fox Riggs is a 20-year-old warlord. It is said that the Jiuli people invented smelting metal and making weapons in the process of salt smelting, which is estimated to be bronze weapons, so the Jiuli army can fight against the Yellow Emperor.
"King's Pavilion" is engraved with moire jade pavilion.
Xia and Shang dynasties are fine. In ancient times, sticks were the main weapons, such as the binding sticks in ancient Rome, and the poles, stands and pestles in ancient China were all improved sticks. In the late Zhou Dynasty, wars were frequent, and the popularity of metal weapons increased. But long weapons are mainly used, because compared with swords, the handle of Golsa halberd is made of wood, but less metal materials are used.
Ancient Roman crossbeam
During the Spring and Autumn Period, princes disputed. Sword, as a short weapon, has the largest number and the most skillful shape among many weapons groups in Yue State. According to historical records, the casting workshop, upper furnace and lower furnace in the southeast of Shaoxing city are the treasure places for the Yue people to cast swords. "Wu Ge Jian Yue" was famous at home and abroad. It also reflects the proficiency of Vietnamese craftsmen in mastering this craft. The admiration of "Vietnamese people cast swords and spit cold light out of the box"
The remaining 100 steelmaking Han Jian.
During this period, swords were widely used in wars, such as bows, crossbows, guns, knives, swords, spears, shields, axes, cymbals, halberds, yellow hammers,
Sabre is also very popular in Laos, with beggars (sticks), forks, rakes and lassos. Not only soldiers wear swords, but also nobles and officials wear swords. Kings take swords as their hobby, and besides protecting themselves, they often take swords as a necessary thing for sacrifice.
Shang dynasty bronze hook halberd
Dozens of shanks have been unearthed in Shaoxing, which are beautiful in appearance and hard in texture. Although they have been buried underground for more than 2000 years, they are still cold. It can be said that the manufacture of Yue bronze sword is the highest achievement of unique Yue bronze culture. Seven bronze swords from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period exhibited in Shaoxing Museum are of excellent texture and different shapes. One of the flat-ridged swords, with a total length of 42.2 cm and a blade width of 3.8 cm, is decorated with vanilla stripes, and the sword jewelry has oblique stripes. Two-week convex hoop is cast on the stem, and horizontal and vertical stripes are cast on the hoop. The blade has obvious quenching marks, which seems to have never been used, meaning that the Vietnamese army was martyred.
Shuikeng Sword in Shaoxing Museum
After reunification, the most important change in Qin Jun's weapons and equipment is to accelerate the transition from an era dominated by bronze weapons to an era dominated by iron weapons. Jian Qin, the last peak of the bronze sword era, has a long-handled dagger, bronze beryllium, a splendid bronze halberd of Jin Ge and a spear of Wu Gou, accurate ancient "rifle" parts, crossbowmen and arrows, ceremonial soldiers and bronze pins.
Bronze Arrow in Warring States Period
The weapons in the early Han Dynasty are still similar to those in the Warring States and Qin Dynasty, mainly including swords, spears, halberds, swords, beryllium, crossbows, bows and arrows, hooks and so on. The material is also in a transitional state between bronze and iron. After Wenjing and Hanwu, iron and steel smelting, weapon shape and fighting style all developed further, and the ring-headed straight knife began to appear, and the corresponding cavalry fighting style was also used on a large scale, and there was a "hook embedding" that matched the knife. The cold weapons in the Three Kingdoms period were mainly knives, swords, knives and guns. The materials are mainly copper and iron, and there is no mature steelmaking technology.
Hook embedding in Han dynasty
In the Tang Dynasty, a new kind of knife was developed, namely Kubinashi ring. Wrap the handle around the iron stem with a wooden clip and wrap the wire rope outside. The cutter head is covered with metal ornaments. The hilt and sheath are inlaid with gold periodicals and jade, and wrapped in herringbone leather. The decoration is gorgeous. Japan calls it "Tang style broadsword". Up to now, Zhengcang Hospital still has the same type of products handed down for reference. The Japanese developed after careful imitation. In addition to long knives with short handles, there is also a long-handled broadsword in the Tang Dynasty, which is ten feet long and is called "Mo Dao". It was so powerful that the infantry held it in a horizontal dense formation, "entering the city like a wall", which has not been recorded since the Tang Dynasty.
Japanese pike-the closest Japanese pike to Mo Dao
From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, a new type of war was brewing. Due to the invention and use of gunpowder, hot weapons have entered the historical stage, which is a major feature of the Song Dynasty war. At this time, the combat power of cavalry is quite limited, mainly foot warfare, urban offensive and defensive warfare and water warfare. As for short-handled weapons, they have absorbed the styles of northwest ethnic minorities, and have various forms, such as whips, sticks, hammers, etc., which are used in conjunction with long knives.
Song dynasty pu Dao
Although the Yuan Dynasty was a great empire spanning Europe and Asia, there were very few weapons handed down in kind. Mongolian commanders are good at riding, everyone is good at equestrian, and their actions are erratic and fast. It is very reasonable to use a sword or broadsword that is conducive to cutting. The development of firearms in the Ming Dynasty gradually matured, and long-range artillery basically replaced the gun crossbow. However, firearms used by individual soldiers, such as bird locks, are not completely practical because of the time-consuming loading, so traditional weapons such as knives, spears, bows and arrows are still the basic equipment of infantry, and great changes have taken place due to the invasion of the Japanese.
Mongolian knife
The standard sabers in Qing dynasty are: straight knife, nest knife, machete, bow knife, horse-cutting knife, etc. Shun Dao is a straight blade, which is similar to the first Dao in Mongolia or Tibet. The nest knife with square head and tail and painted green is the most common style of green knife. Bow, also known as broadsword or machete, is also very common among the people. Horse-chopping knife is shaped like ju, with long handle and extremely lethal. These kinds of knives are generally excellent, and fine folding lines can be seen on the best blades.
Shundao in Qing dynasty
Gunpowder was used as a weapon in the Northern Song Dynasty, and bamboo tube firearms appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. After gunpowder spread to the west, it developed greatly. So at that time, Dutch and Spanish merchant ships arrived in China, bringing advanced guns from the west, and the Ming army began to introduce the manufacturing technology of western guns.
Copper fire system
After the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty began to train new recruits, Yuan Shikai trained new recruits, and so on. After the introduction of new western firearms, the history of ancient weapons in China ended. In this vast thousands of years, every step of weapon development is accompanied by people's step-by-step mastery and application of physical knowledge, and the development of science and technology promotes the progress of the times.