During the Warring States period, countries attacked each other and applied many inventions of Lu Ban.
First, from "hook assist" to "ladder"-an epoch-making heavy siege equipment
In 3000 BC, a protracted war broke out between the Greeks and the Trojans. The cause of the war was that the Greeks wanted to save a beautiful woman Helen from Troy. The immortal epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" all mention that Homer's epic is based on the ten-year Trojan War. The battle of Troy, which is also true and unreal, is the most wonderful fragment in ancient Greek myths and legends, and also the most legendary classic example in the history of world wars.
The ancient city of Troy is located in today's Turkey, on the Aegean coast. The Greeks fought across the sea, camped outside Troy and attacked for several years. But because the city was tall and strong, the Greek army tried every means to attack the city, but it did not succeed. Finally, the Greeks finally came up with a clever plan, built a huge Trojan horse, hid a group of elite soldiers in the Trojan horse's belly, induced the Trojan horse to be transported into the city, took advantage of it, made a sudden attack, cooperated with the troops outside the city, and finally captured Troy. This is the story of the famous "Trojan horse" in ancient Greek legend.
In the history of war, especially in the era of cold weapons, the establishment of castles is closely related to military purposes. A strong castle is a symbol of a city's or a country's defense capability, and it is the most important military defense line and fortress. Therefore, defending the city became the most important content in the ancient world war. In terms of defense, the city will do its best to build its own indestructible and impregnable castle; Offensively, they will try their best to develop and improve siege weapons and equipment.
The story of Trojan Horse tells the story of the Greek siege wisdom. In ancient China, there were records about attacking cities and guarding cities a long time ago. The Battle of Zhou Dynasty in 1 1 century BC was the first tough battle in the history of China. At that time, the Shang and Zhou Dynasties had no choice but to worship it and zhou bo cut it down. According to Chongyi, Zhou Jun stayed at the gate for more than 30 days. Later, King Wen got the methods of "Hook Aid" (a primitive ladder) and "Close Rush" (a primitive siege tower) to destroy the city and worship righteousness. It can be seen that the ladder played an important role in ancient wars, although it was only a primitive and simple form. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, ladders were also important equipment for siege. Mozi Gongbo recorded: "Gongbo is a device for Chu to build a ladder, and he will attack the Song Dynasty." Song Weice, Volume 32 of the Warring States Policy, also recorded this: "If you set up weapons for Chu as a public disaster, you will attack Song ... Mozi said:' If Wen Gong is a ladder, you will attack Song. What was the sin of the Song Dynasty? " "
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, all countries built high cities and dug deep pools, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. The original siege equipment, such as Lin Chong and stone carts, was backward. On the basis of the original siege equipment, Luban invented the ladder for siege. The ladder designed by Luban made up for the shortage of temporary driving and building cars, which not only showed us the situation in the city, but also allowed us to climb the city wall by ladder. It was the most advanced siege military equipment at that time.
The siege ladder invented by Lu Ban has no pattern, so there is no textual research on its shape. But the ladder in the Warring States period can be seen in the bronze patterns in the Warring States period. It consists of three parts: the bottom is equipped with wheels, which can move; The ladder body can be tilted up and down, and can be carried by manpower when attacking the city, leaning against the wall; The top of the ladder is equipped with a hook to hook the edge of the city to prevent it from being destroyed by the defenders. The siege ladder in the Tang Dynasty was greatly improved compared with that in the Warring States period. By the Song Dynasty, the various functions of the siege ladder had been very complete. In a word, the siege ladder invented by Lu Ban was an important military invention in ancient China and played an important role in the long ancient war.
Second, the "hook rejection" (strong hook) with both offensive and defensive capabilities-the "ship-borne weapon" for water combat.
With the development of weapons, the configuration of new equipment and the style of war are also changing. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the space of war was not limited to land, but also extended to rivers, lakes and seas. In the water war, Lu Ban also made important military inventions.
"Hook and refuse", in today's words, is equivalent to the naval ship-borne weapon.
According to Mozi? "Lu Wen" records: "In the past, the Chu people fought with the Yue people in a boat on the river. The Chu people advanced downstream, retreated against the current, advanced at the sight of benefits, and retreated at the sight of disadvantages." Vietnamese swim against the current, retreat downstream, advance when they see advantages, and retreat when they see disadvantages. Therefore, if the Vietnamese persist, they will be defeated by the Chu people. The public loser from southern Shandong to Chu began to be a weapon for ship warfare. As a preparation for a strong hook, those who retreat hook it, those who enter it are strong, and the length of a strong hook is measured. If the soldiers are controlled by force, the soldiers of Chu will be disloyal and the Chu people will fail. The loser has skill, and Mozi said,' I have a strong hook in the boat battle, and I don't know what the son means.' Zi Mozi said:' The hook of my righteousness is stronger, and the sage is stronger than the hook of the boat. I have a powerful hook, I hook it with love, and I draw it with respect. If you hook up with love, you won't kiss; Respect is quick; Leave quickly if you don't kiss. It is still beneficial for old friends to love each other and respect each other. Today, children hook people to stop people, and people also hook people to stop children. Children are strong and far away, and people are strong and far away. Children, strong and strong, are still harmful. Therefore, the hook of my righteousness is strong, and the hook of the sage boat battle is strong. " "
At that time, Yue was good at water warfare, and the maneuverability and flexibility of warships were unmatched by Chu. Chu warships can't catch up if they win, or they can't escape if they lose, so they are often in a passive situation in the battle. Therefore, Luban specially designed "Hook Force", which is a new type of water warfare weapon. Its biggest feature is that it can attack and defend. It has a long hook. If the enemy wants to escape, he will hook the other side's warship and make it unable to escape. And if your ship loses, you can resist the enemy's ship and make it inaccessible. It was with the advanced equipment of "Hook Strong" that the Chu army defeated the State of Yue, and Lu Ban made great contributions to this. This kind of water warfare weapon was also widely used in later water wars and played an important role.
Third, from "wooden kites" to "wooden chariots and horses"-unmanned "reconnaissance planes" and "motor vehicles"
In addition to ladders and hooks, Lu Ban has another important invention: one is flying magpies, and the other is wooden chariots and horses. Flying magpies and wooden chariots and horses have not been directly used in actual combat, but they have been used as transportation tools and have been tested, which can also be called paramilitary inventions.
Flying magpies and wooden chariots and horses are bold applications of the principles of machinery and automation, which are very creative, showing Lu Ban's extraordinary scientific wisdom and leaving a legendary scientific story for future generations.
Flying magpies were later called flying kites and wooden kites. "Mozi Luwen" records: "The loser cuts bamboo and wood and thinks it is a magpie. Three days later, the loser thinks he is smart. " This matter was mentioned in Lun Heng, Liezi, Huai Nan Zi, Han Fei Zi, Selected Works, Notes for Beginners, Taiping Yulan and other classics, showing its great influence at that time.
Although the "flying bird" invented by Lu Ban has no fuel as power support, it can keep flying in the air by some kind of mechanical transmission. According to Youyang Miscellaneous Notes, it is said that when Liangzhou built the stupa, he built a wooden kite, which could fly after hitting the organ three times, and he flew home on it. No one knows about it. It was not until his wife was pregnant and his parents asked again and again that his wife told all this. Later, my father spied the secret of the wooden kite, knocked on the organ for more than ten times, and took it to the meeting of Emperor Wu. Wu people thought Lu's father was a monster, so they killed him. Lu Zhong made another wooden kite, flew it to Emperor Wu and found his father's body. Lu resented Wu for killing his father. When I came back, I built a wooden fairy in the south of Suzhou, and let my finger point to the southeast of Wu. As a result, Wudi experienced a three-year drought. A diviner in Wudi said after divination, "A drought in Wudi is like a drought in Shandong." So the people of Wu came to Lu with many things to apologize. One of Muxian's fingers was cut off, and it rained heavily in Wu this month. (Datang) In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the local people also prayed for this wooden fairy.
This is just a touching legend with many exaggerations, but at that time, it was possible to use simple air buoyancy and aerodynamic principles to make an aircraft that could glide for a period of time with wood, which was also the prototype of the most elementary glider. It is also recorded that Lu Ban made a "wooden bird" and used it to investigate the situation of Song State. If there is, it will be put into practical military application, and it is also the oldest military reconnaissance plane. If you put a soil bomb in a bird's stomach, it will become a primitive bomber.
"Wooden chariots and horses" is a magical invention of Lu Ban. Wang Yun's Lun Heng Ru Zeng records: "There is a rumor in Judah:' Lu Zhi is as deep as Lu, and his mother is dead. "A skillful craftsman made a wooden cart for his mother, with a Woodenhead guarding it. The organ was ready and he carried it on his mother's back. If he refuses to return it, he will lose his mother. " Legend has it that Lu Ban once built a wooden cart for his mother, with an organ on it. As long as this organ is activated, the car can travel at high speed. His mother was taken away by a wooden cart forever, and Lu Ban lost her mother from then on.
There are also some exaggerations and inaccuracies in this record, but as far as its specific description of "wooden chariots and horses" is concerned, it is still very creative Wooden chariots and horses can be regarded as the oldest motor vehicle, and its most prominent feature is that it is driven by Woodenhead and walks automatically, not a real person. It's amazing that there was such an automatic idea in those days. Later, Zhu Gekongming's Mu Niu Liu Ma was similar to Lu Ban's Mu Che Ma in both name and function, and was probably directly inspired by Lu Ban's Mu Che Ma.
As a mechanization and automation invention with primitive nature, it was impossible to equip the army and use it in actual combat at that time, but the significance of Lu Ban's invention lies in expressing the original understanding and assumption of mechanization and automation of ancient scientists in China, and opening people's vision and pursuit of scientific ideals. .
Fourth, "sand table operation"-simulating the confrontation between the red and blue armies
In modern warfare, the virtual reality technology of sand table simulation experiment is applied to command decision simulation, mainly to assist commanders in making decisions and commanding operations. Although it is a "discussion on the military", it is a practical simulation with great reference value. The commander can not only observe the enemy's deployment on the virtual battlefield, but also see the troops at the enemy observation point. Through multi-faceted observation, we can further understand the enemy's current intentions. In the simulation of war decision-making, the use of sand table operations can accurately reproduce the combat situation in the theater, realistically simulate the battlefield environment, and accurately predict the future development trend of tactics, campaigns and even strategies, thus providing the battlefield situation as close as possible for command and decision-making, so that the commander-in-chief can correctly command operations and make strategic decisions.
In fact, this simulation exercise and contest has been put into practice by Lu Ban and Mozi.
There is a record in Mozi's Lost: Mozi set out from Lu, walked for ten days and ten nights, and trudged all the way to Chu. Find Lu Ban and go to see the King of Chu together. Mozi's wisdom has been fully demonstrated. First of all, he morally let the king of Chu and Lu Ban lose the opportunity and proved the injustice of the invasion of Chu and Han. Then facing the unwilling king of Chu, he and Lu Ban had a face-to-face contest, undressed, surrounded the city wall and used sawdust as a weapon; It feels a bit like today's war chess deduction. Luban attacked, Mozi defended, Luban failed nine times, and the siege machinery was exhausted; Mozi still has several sets of defense methods that are useless. Seeing that the defeat was decided, Lu Ban said, "I still have a way to deal with you, but I won't say anything." Mozi also said, "I know what you are going to do to me, but I won't say anything." The king of Chu didn't understand and asked him what he meant. Mozi said, "The loser wants to kill me. He thought that if he killed me, no one would help Song Shoucheng. He doesn't know that about 300 of my disciples are already there waiting for you to attack. " The king of Chu was disappointed and finally gave up the idea of attacking Song State.
In battle, Mozi is good at defense, and Lu Ban is good at attack. One is offense, and the other is defense. The king of Chu asked Mozi and Lu Ban to play tricks in offensive and defensive exercises and simulate operations through sand tables. And Lu Ban lost.
What we are concerned about here is not who will act as the imaginary enemy, nor who will win or lose between the Red Army and the Blue Army, but the simulation consciousness they have, the simulation means they use and the practical purpose of stopping the war through simulated confrontation.
In short, more than 2,000 years ago, under the historical conditions of extremely low productivity, Lu Ban created a large number of practical civilian technologies with his extraordinary wisdom, including military technologies used in actual combat and non-actual combat. Although it is still a primitive and primary scientific and technological achievement, it contains the unique inspiration and wisdom of ancient Chinese people, and it still has positive enlightenment significance for us to develop modern high technology and innovate modern military technology today.