Chinese siege weapons

Originally it used a counterweight to unfold once within reach of the enemy walls, but the contraption proved to be too vulnerable, and switched to a simple pulling mechanism during the Song dynasty.

The newer version had men pull on ropes from behind with the aid of a long pole to move the top ladder into position.

They were used as early as the Three Kingdoms period, as mentioned by Chen Lin: The hook carts join the fray and the nine oxen turn and heave, bellowing like thunder, and furiously smash the towers and overturn the parapets... Then the flying ladders, movable overlooks, cloud pavilions and the buildings in the void are rolled forward into the breaches so that the attackers can swarm into the city.

[2]During the Tang dynasty, in the 783 siege of Fengtian, an assault cart 10 m (33 ft) tall was constructed, protected by layers of cowhide and equipped with leather bags of water to douse fires.

[2] In 1132, the Jurchen Jin dynasty constructed assault carts called "sky bridges" during the Siege of De'an, but failed to reach the enemy walls due to the use of long beams to push them away.

They mounted cannons on it to bombard the Qing soldiers manning the walls, but the tower was destroyed by a combination of burning oil and long poles wrapped in incendiary material at the ends.

[3] The traction trebuchet, also referred to as a mangonel in some sources, is an artillery weapon which derives from manpower its motive force, and was probably used by the Mohists starting from the 4th century BC.

[8] In Chapter 14 of the Mojing, the traction trebuchet is described hurling hollowed out logs filled with burning charcoal at enemy troops.

The whirlwind trebuchet used a single vertical pole which could be rotated 360 degrees for increased versatility at the cost of projectile strength.

The four footed trebuchets were essentially the same as the previous Warring States weapons, differentiated from the whirlwinds by specifying its stability and larger size.

[11] A military engineer of the Three Kingdoms period, Ma Jun, devised a device which threw large stones using a wheel.

[2] The introduction of the counterweight trebuchet in China is usually attributed to Muslim engineers during the Battle of Xiangyang in 1273, but it is possible that it was independently invented earlier in 1232 by the Jurchen Jin commander Qiang Shen.

[2] Even earlier, a Song officer, Wei Sheng, had invented a trebuchet in 1176 that could hurl stones and gunpowder projectiles some 200 paces.

[12] Qiang Shen furthermore invented a trebuchet called the 'Arresting Trebuchct' [E Pao], which was used to prevent [the enemy] from overrunning [his positions].

Only a few men were needed to work it, yet (with this engine] great stones could be hurled more than 100 paces, and there was no target which it did not hit right in the middle.

Its greater range was however, somewhat countered by the fact that it had to be constructed at the site of the siege unlike traction trebuchets, which were easier to take apart and put back together again where necessary.

The Mohist siege crossbow was described as humongous device with frameworks taller than a man and shooting arrows with cords attached so that they could be pulled back.

[18] Constructing these weapons, especially the casting of the large triggers, and their operation required the highest order of technical expertise available at the time.

Here, in 1256, the Chinese arcuballistae shot their projectiles 2500 (Arab) paces 1,000 m (3,300 ft)) from a position on the top of some mountain... His actual words are: "and a kamān-i-gāu which had been constructed by Cathayan craftsmen, and which had a range of 2500 paces, was brought to bear on those fools, when no other remedy remained, and of the devil-like Heretics many soldiers were burnt by those meteoric shots".

[24] When Qin Shi Huang's magicians failed to get in touch with "spirits and immortals of the marvellous islands of the Eastern Sea", they excused themselves by saying large monsters blocked their way.

"[2]In 950 AD, Tao Gu described multiple crossbows connected by a single trigger: The soldiers at the headquarters of the Xuan Wu army were exceedingly brave.

One surviving source from c. 1023 lists all the artisans working in Kaifeng while another notes that in 1083 the imperial court sent 100,000 gunpowder arrows to one garrison and 250,000 to another.

It was recommended that these devices be placed on the walls so that when rolls of straw were thrown at siege engines, they would be ignited by the petrol fire.

In desperation, he projected petrol from flamethrowers at the enemy, but a sudden northern wind blew the flames in the opposite direction, setting his entire fleet ablaze.

[32] Gas bombs consisting of gunpowder mixed with various poisons wrapped in hemp and moxa were used as defensive weapons.