The whip body is mostly made of copper and iron, and there are also hardwood materials. Its cross section has circular, octagonal, hexagonal and other shapes, most of which are circular.
Most whips are made of knots, which can increase their hitting power. This knotted whip looks like a bamboo pole, so it is commonly known as a bamboo whip, and the knotted whip is called a plain whip. In order to increase the strength of some whips, other parts will be added to the whip.
▲ Military Museum collects iron whip in Ming Dynasty.
Iron whip can have a million soldiers.
There are two kinds of whip hand guards: iron plate hand guards and beads. The appearance of iron plate hand guards is similar to that of spatula.
Most whips are integrally cast, and the whip body, the guard, the handle and the handle head are connected together to form a short metal stick. Some whip guards are installed separately from other parts. There are two ways to deal with the handle of the whip. One is to clamp the iron handle with two pieces of wood, which is similar to the mounting method of sword handle. The other is very simple, just wind the rope around the iron handle.
▲ iron whip of Qing Dynasty is collected in Inner Mongolia Museum.
At the same time as the whip, there are mallets, both of which are blunt objects with short handles. They are similar in use and appearance, and the main difference lies in the shape of the hitting part.
The cross section of mace is triangular, square and octagonal. And most of them have no knots, and most of them have depressions on their sides. The cross section of the whip is square, round and octagonal. And most of them have knots.
▲ The Palace Museum has iron maces from the Qing Dynasty.
The distinguishing standard between whip and mace is that the one with triangular edge or concave edge must be mace, and the one with circular cross section must be whip. However, there is no absolute standard to distinguish between whip and mace. For example, although the names of the eight-sided iron mace and the eight-sided plain whip are different, they are actually the same thing, and the four-sided iron whip and the bamboo mace are the same.
However, this does not mean that people can't tell the difference between a whip and a hammer. According to the actual situation, most whips are round and jointed whips, while most whips are triangular concave whips and quadrilateral concave whips. There is no possibility of confusion between them.
▲ Inner Mongolia Museum collects iron whip with dragon patterns in Ming Dynasty.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the high rate of armor-piercing, whip and mace weapons which were beneficial to armor-piercing were very popular. Iron whip's illustrations are recorded in the Collection of Military Classics, which is also the earliest existing image about iron whip.
At that time, many generals were whipped with iron. For example, the Northern Song Dynasty general Wang Jueshan used iron whip and an iron pestle, which was called Wang Tie Whip.
In the second year of Kangding, Song Ting appointed Ren Fu as the leader to fight against Xixia, and Wang Jue, then the secretariat of Jingzhou, was also under Ren Fu's control. March, Ren Fu, pioneer Sangzhou Qingqi in the former, followed by Zhu Guan and Wu Ying. On February 13th, Ren Fu met the Xixia Army. Shortly after the war, the Xixia army left a lot of materials and fled in a hurry. Seeing this, Sang Yi led the troops in pursuit and let his father lead the troops to meet the enemy. Song Jun did not encounter fierce resistance along the way, but the pursuit changed the original March plan. At dusk, Ren Fu and Sang Yi met in Haoshuichuan. Zhu Guan and Wu Ying were stationed in Luochuan.
▲ Xixia Mausoleum Site
The two sides agreed to jointly attack the Xixia army the next day, but they were surrounded by the Xixia army before they met. Ren Fu and his men were not as good as this array, and were finally wiped out by Xixia Army. Ren Fu and Sang Zhou were both killed in the battle.
After the Xixia army wiped out Ren Fu, the allied forces attacked the remnants of Song Jun. When Wang Xuan learned the news, he led the army to help. Seeing that the enemy was powerful, Wang Xuan personally attacked iron whip, killing dozens of people, and iron whip was bent. Because the enemy was outnumbered, Wang Jue never met Ren Fu. After returning to the camp, he died of serious injuries.
In the end, Song Jun was defeated and only a few troops successfully retreated.
In the Song Dynasty, iron whip was also widely used by ethnic minority regime troops. For example, the sculptures in Liao Dynasty also show the images of soldiers holding iron whip, including the Xixia army, the enemy of Song Jun, and some generals who used iron whip. In the first year of Baoyuan, Song Jun attacked Xixia, and the generals of Xixia Army "spurred horses and attacked the mountains". In the Ming dynasty, the army also used whips and hammers. According to the outline of military equipment, cavalry pays attention to quickness and lightness, but when encountering an enemy wearing heavy armor, it is necessary to use a whip and a hammer to break the armor. At that time, the heavy-duty iron whip was used with both hands, four feet and nine inches long, and the user tailored it according to his own physical strength, and the weight was generally from ten kilograms to twenty kilograms.
▲ Guanfu Museum collects iron whip in Ming Dynasty.
Judging from the flogging illustrations included in the Military Equipment Outline, iron whip's use method is similar to that of a two-handed sword. In the Ming Dynasty, it was said in the "A Brief Introduction to Law" that there were four kinds at that time: Palladium Tail Whip, Zhang Ba Whip, iron whip, Leopard Tail Whip and iron whip. These whips are different, but "posture, technique and footwork are all lifted with fists and sticks."
At that time, with the popularity of firearms, a kind of iron whip with the property of hot weapon appeared, commonly known as thunder and fire whip. The main body of this whip is an iron pipe, which can hold gunpowder and iron bullets, which is equivalent to a special-shaped firedoor gun. When users encounter enemies, they can first cast iron bullets and then fight with iron whip in their hands.
▲ Xuzhou Museum collects thunder and fire whips of Ming Dynasty.
In the Qing Dynasty, iron whip still had a place in the army, and the elite troops of the Qing army, Ruijian Camp, were all equipped with iron whip. Judging from the royal ritual vessels, the equipment in green camp in Qing Dynasty was varied, but the weapons of the Eight Banners Army were few, and they were all practical weapons with simple shapes. As an elite of the Qing army, Ruijian Battalion still hasn't given up on iron whip, which shows that this weapon has its own uniqueness.
▲ iron whip of the Qing Dynasty is in the Palace Museum.