This is because:

The concept of eighteen weapons first appeared in the Song Dynasty. Confusingly, this concept did not appear in the Han and Tang Dynasties when the military was strong, nor did it appear in the Ming and Qing Dynasties at the peak of China's feudal society. But it happened that it was produced in the Song Dynasty, which suffered many wars and defeats in the military. Why?

War horses were scarce in Song Dynasty.

Lack of war horses and weak cavalry have always been the weakness of the Song army. At the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, the northwest area suitable for raising horses had been seized by Xixia, and the horses in the north were also plundered by Qidan on a large scale. Although the northern song government also followed the practice of raising horses in Han and Tang dynasties, the effect was not obvious. There were more than 200,000 horses in Song Zhenzong period, which was the highest level in the Northern Song Dynasty. Not only is it far from the 400,000 horses in the Han Dynasty, but it is also far less than the 706,000 horses that set a world historical record in the Tang Dynasty.

In view of this, since the first day of the establishment of the regime, Song Taizu has vigorously developed weapons, especially those used by infantry against cavalry. Thus, the ancient cold weapons in China reached its peak in the Song Dynasty.

At that time, the largest weapons workshop in the history of China was established in the capital of the Song Dynasty. They are responsible for the production of swords, guns, crossbows and other weapons, and there are as many as 6,543,800 craftsmen. At the peak, these workshops can produce more than 30 thousand weapons every year.

In order to save his country, the Song Dynasty spent almost all its money. Because of this, the peak of China's cold weapons has arrived. Cold weapons in ancient China, especially infantry weapons, reached a fully mature stage in the Song Dynasty.

Perfect crossbow

The best weapon against flexible cavalry is a crossbow 100 meters away. These long-range weapons were used to the extreme in the Song Dynasty.

The crossbow for war first appeared in Chu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is one of the most important inventions of China in the world military history. In the middle and late Warring States period, the armies of the seven countries were generally equipped with solid copper crossbows. After more than 1000 years of development, the crossbow in Song Dynasty reached its peak in performance, scale and technology. The proportion of crossbowmen in the army in Song Dynasty was also the highest since Qin Dynasty: 60% were crossbowmen, and the total number of crossbowmen reached 80%.

Song Shenzong period (1067- 1085) came out, and it can be operated by one soldier. It is the most famous crossbow in the Northern Song Dynasty, with an effective range of 367 meters. At the same time, the best individual crossbow in Europe has a range of no more than140m. In the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, the sharp English longbow had an effective range of about 228 meters, and the compound recurve bow used by Mongols was the closest, with an effective range of about 320 meters.

Among the Song crossbows, the most famous one is the bed crossbow with the greatest lethality. This crossbow is not fired directly by soldiers, but uses the mechanical force of winch to pull open the huge bowstring. It takes seven soldiers to operate this crossbow, and the maximum range can reach more than 460 meters.

In history, the greatest glory created by crossbow was the Zen War in the Northern Song Dynasty. A.D. 1004, the Liao army went south, but it met with strong resistance from Song Jun. When LiLin Xiao, a pioneer officer of the Liao army, went out for reconnaissance, suddenly a huge arrow with a length of two meters came from nowhere, right in the chest, and LiLin Xiao was killed on the spot. This magical giant arrow originated from the Song Jun position more than 400 meters away.

The Liao army was afraid of this powerful heavy crossbow, and finally the two sides signed the Union of the Yuan Dynasty. (Note: The covenant concluded by the Northern Song Dynasty and Liao after many wars mainly includes: Liao and Song became brother countries; Song provided Liao with 65438+200,000 taels of silver and 200,000 taels of silk every year. It turned out that Song spent as many as 30,000 pieces of silk every year, which greatly saved huge war expenses, and the two sides carried out mutual trade on the border. After the conclusion of the Covenant, there was no large-scale war between Song and Liao for more than 100 years. )

Yue Jiapao is known as the king of hundreds of soldiers. This is a weapon with a sharp point on its long handle. The material of gun rod is gray rod, which is a tree species specially planted to make guns. The output is very low, and it is rare now.

Yue Fei, a famous anti-gold star in the Southern Song Dynasty, was a master of gun making. He held a big gun named Liquan, which was 3 meters long, but it became superb in Yue Fei's hands. When he danced, he went out to sea like a dragon, which stunned the enemy. According to historical records, Yue Fei once single-handedly killed the enemy camp and took the head of the enemy generals among the various armies. Therefore, Yue Jiajun won the praise of "it is easy to shake the mountain, but difficult to shake the Yue Jiajun".

However, in the battlefield of the Song Dynasty, the traditional swords and guns began to appear inadequate in front of the fierce minority cavalry in the north. Soldiers in Song Dynasty generally wore heavy armor, so they needed to use heavy attack weapons, such as mace and hammer.

Mace first appeared in Sui and Tang Dynasties, but it was widely used in Song Dynasty. If mace is only a light weapon to deal with heavy armor, then hammer is a heavy weapon that can kill the enemy instantly.

The original gunpowder weapon appeared in the late Tang Dynasty and was further developed in the Song Dynasty. Mongolia made the earliest tubular metal firearms on the basis of muskets in the Southern Song Dynasty. Established during the Ming Dynasty, Jishen Camp may be the first strategic force dedicated to firearms in the history of the world. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, firearms got unprecedented development, and China entered the era of hot weapons.

By the Qing Dynasty, firearms were more popular. When firearms began to play an increasingly important role in the military of the Qing Empire, cold weapons gradually withdrew from the battlefield. At this time, the sword, once the main battle weapon, flowed into the people in large quantities, thus promoting the great development of folk Wushu.