In the Paleolithic Age, the main productive activity of human beings was hunting. At that time, primitive humans used beaten stones and sharpened sticks to throw at various prey, but the throwing distance was limited after all. Later, it was found that the stick was bent and deformed by external force, and once the external force disappeared, it suddenly returned to its original state, which would produce more energy. So they chose elastic wood or bamboo, bent and fixed it with tough string, and made the earliest bow and arrow weapon in human history. The application of bows and arrows was of great significance to the primitive clan tribes which were mainly hunting at that time.
In the small picture on the left, there is a collar with an arrow above, a pole in the middle, a feather below and a ratio below.
The making of primitive bows and arrows
1963, a stone arrow (zú) was found at the Paleolithic site in Shuo County, Shanxi Province. It is about 28 mm long, finely machined and has a sharp edge. Radiocarbon dating has a history of more than 28,900 years. This is the first stone arrow discovered in China. But Yi Chuan? The copula has recorded the original bow and arrow of "the string wood is the bow and the single wood is the arrow" (meaning that the bow is only made of a single piece of wood and the arrow is a sharpened wooden stick). It can be seen that our ancient ancestors knew how to make and use bows and arrows in a specific era, which was much earlier than when they could make this stone arrow, at least 30 thousand years ago.
Since then, ancient humans have continuously improved their production and combat tools, making bows and arrows evolve in the footsteps of human beings. When human society entered the Neolithic Age, the arrow gradually evolved from the original hammer stone arrow to the fine grinding stone arrow. At the same time, in order to make the stone arrow firmly fixed on the shaft, the back of the arrow is gradually elongated into a collar, and a tail feather is added to make the arrow fly stably. In the Paleolithic Age, the main productive activity of human beings was hunting. At that time, primitive humans used beaten stones and sharpened sticks to throw at various prey, but the throwing distance was limited after all. Later, it was found that the stick was bent and deformed by external force, and once the external force disappeared, it suddenly returned to its original state, which would produce more energy. So they chose elastic wood or bamboo, bent and fixed it with tough string, and made the earliest bow and arrow weapon in human history. The application of bows and arrows was of great significance to the primitive clan tribes which were mainly hunting at that time.
There are two primitive wooden bows:
(1) Single wooden bow: The original bow and arrow used by Hezhe people living in the lower reaches of Songhua River in northeast China is made of manchurian ash wood, bent and shaped, and tied with a string made of deer tendon or swim bladder. The Oroqen people who live in the outer Xing 'an Mountains make bows with larch or elm, with deer tendons as strings, and the length is about1.7m.. The arrow is just sharpened birch. (2) Primary compound bow: Ewenki people grazing in Ergon River use primary compound bow. The bow body of this kind of bow adopts tough black birch as the inner layer, larch wood as the surface layer, deer or beef tendon is added between the two layers of wood tires, and then fine-scale fish skin is firmly bonded together; After the bow is made, tie the thread made of deerskin.
Primitive bows and arrows are powerful. For example, in the spring of 1966, the bones of a middle-aged man were buried in Tomb 3 16 of Dadunzi Site in Pei County, Jiangsu Province. It is 1.64m long, with a bone dagger in his left hand and a stone axe under his left humerus. Probably a soldier. There is a bone chisel embedded in his left femur, which is 27 mm deep. This shows that the bow and arrow at that time was strong enough to penetrate muscles and shoot into human bones.
The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a bloody era. When the Zhou Dynasty was in decline, the vassal states were competing for hegemony with each other. In this context, the manufacturing technology of bows and arrows has made great progress.
At that time, all the vassal States set up special weapons manufacturing departments and formulated official standards to guide weapons production in order to obtain more excellent weapons with uniform specifications. However, the only one that has survived to this day and recorded the relevant bow and arrow manufacturing standards is Qi's Textual Research. The book describes in detail the material selection and technological process of making bows and arrows. It is clearly pointed out that the six materials needed to make bows are: bow stem, horn, rib, glue, silk thread and pigment. "When six materials are gathered together, skilled materials are combined." Only when six materials are ready can they be combined into a bow. For the selection criteria of six materials, the book also has more detailed provisions. For example, seven kinds of raw materials for selecting dry stems are listed, and the order of their advantages and disadvantages is as follows: "The way of selecting dry stems is as follows: Zhejiang (zhè) is the top, Miao () is the bottom, () mulberry is the top, orange is the bottom, papaya is the bottom, Jing is the bottom, and bamboo is the top." It is considered that among the seven kinds of trees, sticks are the best material for making bows, and bamboo is the worst. When choosing horns, we should pay attention to the season of killing cattle (it is best to kill cattle in the crisp autumn when the horns are thickest) and the strength of old and young cattle. The selected angle should be "green and white but full at the end", "the angle is two feet and five inches long, so the three colors are unreasonable, so the cow wears the cow" (three colors mean that the root of the angle is white, the middle part is green and the end is full. And wearing a cow means that the price of a pair of good horns is equivalent to the price of a cow. For glue, the darker the color, the drier the better; The thinner the tendon, the longer the better; Paint should be as clear as the bottom; Silk should have a bright luster.
As for the combination of six materials into a bow, it can't be completed in a short time. It is necessary to choose different seasons and carry out different crafts to ensure the quality of the bow. "Where the bow is dry in winter, it is the angle of spring liquid, the reinforcement in summer, the three materials in autumn, the cold body and the ice analysis", that is, in the winter of the first year, the completely dry bow is cut and shaped; In spring, the horns are made into blocks of appropriate size; In summer, the tendons are combed and shaped, then steamed with wine, hammered, tightened and torn by hand to prevent them from shrinking into thin strips; In autumn, the ribs are attached to the outside of the bow shaft, and the corners are attached to the inside of the bow shaft; In winter, silk is finely wound around the bow joint; Painting in extreme cold; In the third spring, I was strung. In this way, it takes four years for ancient craftsmen to make a good bow, including material selection. In the meantime, it is conceivable that craftsmen spent energy, but it took more time and energy to make the good bows used by the princes at that time, so the princes at that time cherished good bows as much as swords. According to historical records, King Chu Ling gave Lv Hou the treasure bow "Daqu" hidden by Chu after he got drunk, and he regretted it after waking up. He ignored the name of unbelief and sent envoys to retrieve the bow.
Bow and arrow techniques became more and more mature during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
The bow is C-shaped when it is not wound, and M-shaped when it is wound. This is a hyperbolic bending compound bow. Now, bows are also divided into six types: king bow, arc bow, clip bow, Yu bow, Tang bow and big bow. King bow and arc bow are used for guarding city and fighting cars, clip bow and Yu bow are used for hunting, and Tang bow and big bow are used for shooting. According to the user's height, the upper bow can be divided into three categories: upper length 1.52m, middle length 1.45m and lower length1.38m. The arrow has also developed from a simple single piece to a triangular or barbed shape to improve its lethality.
It was the bow and arrow manufacturing technology that reached its peak in the Spring and Autumn Period that triggered a revolution in the manufacture of long-range weapons-the birth of crossbows. According to legend, the crossbow was invented by Qin of Chu State during the Warring States Period. (In the Spring and Autumn Period, when the southern State of Chu was expanding its territory, it was inevitable that it clashed with the ethnic tribes at that time, from which it was inspired and learned to make crossbows. Besides, until the early days of liberation, the ethnic minorities in southern China still used primitive wooden crossbows instead of bows and arrows. So I think this legend is well-founded. After the invention of crossbow, it has been continuously improved, mainly reflected in the continuous strengthening of bow force and the improvement of crossbow machine. According to records, the mass of the crossbow at that time was 369kg, and the maximum range could reach 800m·m m. Of course, such a crossbow could not be opened by the strength of two arms alone. Lux must stretch with his legs and hands in a sitting position or mechanical force.
In the Warring States period, both sides began to use bigger crossbows. Like Mozi? The arrow used in Lin's "Crossbow" is 1.9 meters long, and the tail of the arrow has a rope, which can be rolled back and reused after shooting.
For the large phalanx dominated by infantry and chariots at that time, it was difficult to move laterally. The crossbow has a strong lethality and deterrence, so it was valued by military strategists at that time. For example, in the battle of Changping, Qin and Zhao in 260 BC, Qin Jun's strong bow and hard crossbow played a huge role, and finally hit the "hedgehog" Zhao Kuo, a general of Zhao, and won the battle to win the world.
After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, great attention was paid to the offensive and defensive warfare of cities and fortresses, and crossbows, as the most suitable long-range killing weapon for guarding cities, reached the peak in manufacturing scale and quality. At that time, the rulers of the Song Dynasty not only set up crossbows in the capital, but also set up military workshops in various places to concentrate skilled craftsmen on manufacturing a large number of crossbows with excellent performance. According to the military records in the History of Song Dynasty, "there are more than 16.5 million horn bows made by crossbows, and more than 6.2 million yellow birch black lacquer crossbows in various states." Shen Kuo, a great scientist in ancient China, was recommended by Wang Anshi to be in charge of military equipment supervision. Later, he wrote Meng Qian's pen talk. This book introduces the basic situation of crossbow manufacturing at that time. Shen Kuo believes that a good bow should have six characteristics: first, the bow is light and strong; Second, opening the bow is easy and flexible; Third, the power of long-term use of projectiles is undiminished; Fourth, the shooting power remains unchanged in winter and summer; Fifth, the sound is crisp when archery; Sixth, when opening the bow, the bow is straight. Regarding the making of bows, he suggested that dry animal ligaments should be soaked in glue soup to comb them so that they can no longer be stretched before they can be used to make bows; When manufacturing the bow body, the bow rod should be bent in the opposite direction to the bow mouth, and then the angle pieces and ribs should be attached; The key to the optimization of bow structure is that the length of "joint" should be appropriate, so that the bow will be strong and powerful; When making the bow, the glue should be thinly coated to avoid affecting the elasticity of the bow because of changing the glue. With regard to crossbows, Shen Kuo particularly emphasized the role of "looking at the mountain" on crossbow machines ("looking at the mountain" was invented in the Western Han Dynasty). Because the crossbow arrow has a high muzzle velocity and its trajectory is close to a straight line, it can be fired after aiming at the arrow, and then aimed at the target with scale on "Looking Mountain" to improve the hit rate.
Song Bow Pattern: From left to right, there are yellow birch bow, black lacquer bow, white birch bow and hemp back bow.
In the fortifications of the city defense in the Song Dynasty, there was a unique crossbow frame, which was the same height as the city, and there was a shed on it, protruding from the plane of the city wall. Each crossbow frame can accommodate 24 crossbowmen, which is 65,438+0. Not only can you shoot at the front enemy, but you can also shoot at the enemy in the dead corner of the wall, which greatly improves the defense ability. For example, in the Song-Liao War of 1004, Song Jun ambushed and shot Xiao Daling, the commander of the Liao army, which finally contributed to the peace agreement between Song and Liao.
Before the Mongolian tribes were unified by * * *, they were in the transitional period from the end of primitive clan tribes to slavery society, so most of the bows and arrows worn by early Mongolian soldiers were homemade. However, with Meng Yuanjun's eastward expedition to the west, he gained a large number of craftsmen and labor, and the manufacture of crossbows became more and more sophisticated. During the expedition to almost the whole Eurasia, the powerful whirlwind set off by Mongolian soldiers spread the bow-making skills in ancient China to all parts of the world, and incorporated the bow-making skills learned from the conquered areas into the bow-making skills in China, further improving the bow-making skills of China.
During the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the four kinds of bows used in the Song Dynasty, there were three kinds of bows: Kaiyuan Bow, Small Pointed Bow and Xifan Wooden Bow. The crossbows in Wu Bei Zhi include arm bow, bent arm crossbow, open waist crossbow, nest crossbow and double flying crossbow. Opening the crossbow at the waist means tying a belt with a hook at the back of the waist. When opening the crossbow, the hook will be hung on the crossbow string, then the body will fall back, the legs will be pushed forward, and the crossbow will be wound with the whole body's strength. Double flying crossbow is a kind of guard crossbow installed on a simple wooden frame. The crossbow is used to prevent the enemy from stealing camp and robbing the village. Tie the string of the crossbow and hide it by the roadside.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, due to the development of firearms manufacturing technology and the introduction of advanced firearms such as shotgun, crossbows were completely pushed off the stage of war, but at that time, the shooting speed of firearms was too slow to completely replace bows and arrows. The crossbow used in the famous Qijia army is only one kind of crossbows used to prevent the enemy from stealing camps and robbing villages, but the bow and arrow is still one of the weapons carried by long gunmen. Qi Jiguang mentioned in Ji Xiao's new book that in order to adapt to the rainy and humid environment in the south, the shape of the bow and arrow must be improved: the bow and arrow should be wrapped in birch bark, the joints should be tied with wires, and the arrows must be made of steel.
With the darkness of political rule and the corruption of military system in the late Ming Dynasty, the Jianzhou Jurchen led by Nurhachi rose rapidly between the white mountains and the black waters. Jianzhou Jurchen is a hunting tribe, good at riding and shooting, and bow and arrow is an essential main battle weapon for every soldier. In the process of unifying the ministries of Nurhachi, he was shot through the iron helmet and chain mail's collar by an arrow and was seriously injured. He was in a coma several times, which shows that bows and arrows are very lethal.
Bow opening pattern: bow opening without bow on the left, small bow in the middle and double wooden bow on the right.
There is only one kind of bow and arrow in Qing dynasty, which is divided into emperor, prince, county king, bodyguard, official and soldier. According to the purpose, it is divided into hunting, reviewing troops and actual combat. All kinds of bows and arrows are only different in material selection and decoration, and there are as many as 4 1 species of arrows. There are four kinds of crossbows, namely Ruyi crossbow, Double-machine crossbow, Double-machine crossbow and Tiger-shooting crossbow, but there is no record of actual use. Although these crossbows were strongly impacted by firearms, they still galloped on the battlefield with the Eight Banners, showing tenacious vitality. However, in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners of Manchu Dynasty soon became * * * because of its long history, and the ancient style of riding and shooting disappeared. In addition, after the Opium War, the door of closed-door old China was opened, and China officials discovered more advanced firearms and quickly equipped their own troops. No bows and arrows were seen in Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. At this point, the ancient crossbow, which has experienced a long history with China's military development, finally disappeared irretrievably under the horizon of the military revolution like the sunset in the western hills.