Uncover the secrets of what weapons Guan Yu and Zhang Fei used in the war?

? Tang · Modao ? song’s Wu Jing Zongyao · Yanyue Dao ? Three Kingdoms · Wu · iron spear unearthed in Ezhou, Hubei in 1987 ? snake spear used by Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms

Literature comes from life, so don’t believe in novels. Today we are going to talk about Guan Yu’s green dragon Yanyue Sabre and Zhang Fei’s Zhangba spear. Their weapons are deceptive. It can be said that luoguanzhong and other novelists have made a joke on everyone.

Qinglong Yanyue Sabre is the most famous weapon in the whole story of the Three Kingdoms. It is almost integrated with Guan Yu. People are familiar with the legends about it: killing Huaxiong with warm wine, killing Yanliang, killing Wen Chou, and killing six generals after five passes… Even today, this kind of sabre is still called “Guan Dao” or “Guan Wang Dao”. It can be seen that it has a respected position in the minds of the people. However, in history, Guan Yu did not use Qinglong Yanyue Dao, but weapons similar to spears.

According to historical records, no one ever used the “green dragon Yanyue Sabre” in the Three Kingdoms period. In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Guan Yu “stabbed (Yan) a horse better than others, and beheaded him”. It is likely that he used a spear and carried a short knife with him to behead the assassin.

In the romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Guan Yu’s use of Qinglong Yanyue Sabre is a kind of affiliation, in order to enrich the heroic image of the characters. Although the Qinglong Yanyue Sabre did not appear in the Three Kingdoms period, it is possible to have a long Sabre with a wooden handle. In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, Dian Wei Zhuan, it is said that “Wei Hao makes a big double halberd and a long Sabre”. However, the long Sabre with handle was not a common weapon in this period. During the Three Kingdoms period, generals mainly used spears. For example, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Lu Bu and others all used spears, which were used to stab.

Long handled broadsword appeared in Tang Dynasty

Since the Western Han Dynasty, Dao has been widely used and spread to Korea and Japan. After the late Western Han Dynasty, with the increase of smelting furnace and the improvement of blast technology, the furnace temperature increased and the iron could be melted. Pig iron can be gradually decarburized into wrought iron. When making knives and swords, pig iron and wrought iron are mixed together, folded and forged repeatedly. It is refined into steel. Although 100 steel-making is good, it costs a lot and takes a long time. Cao Cao once ordered to make five refined sabres. It took three years to make them. He kept two of them and gave the other three to three sons to wear with him.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the long handled broadsword has become one of the important weapons in the long weapons. In the Tang Dynasty, a long sword called “Mo Dao” is often used. This kind of knife has two edges, a sharp front edge, and can stab and cut. It is extremely fierce. Li Siye, a famous general in the Tang Dynasty, was a famous stranger general.

Yanyue Dao was invented in Song Dynasty

In fact, Yanyue Dao didn’t appear until the Song Dynasty. It is also called “moon covering Dao”. Yanyue means half a month. There are drawings of this kind of knife in the general essentials of the martial arts classic of the Song Dynasty. The manufacturing process of this wide blade broadsword was not mature in the Three Kingdoms period, so it was difficult to make it. The sabres of the Three Kingdoms period were narrow and straight, with a length of about 1 meter. The sabres of the eastern Wu Dynasty were more than 60 cm long, while those of the Shu Kingdom were more than 1.2 meters long. They had a thick back and a single side edge. They no longer had sharp edges. They generally had a ring head. The cloth strip on the ring head was wrapped around the wrist, which could prevent the knife from falling off from the hands during the killing.

In the Song Dynasty, the long handled broadswords had various shapes and styles, including dropping knife, bending knife, pencil knife, eyebrow tip knife, halberd knife, Yanyue knife and so on.

Zhangfeizhang’s eight spears are not like snakes

Like Guan Yu’s green dragon Yanyue sabre, Zhang Fei’s weapon “Zhangba snake spear” is famous after being rendered in the romance of the Three Kingdoms.

In the new TV series “Three Kingdoms”, we can see that Zhang Fei’s “Zhangba snake spear” has a curved spear head like a snake. What is more surprising is that its spear blade is as powerful as a poisonous snake spitting out messages. However, this “snake spear” is just a fantasy, which is useless in the battlefield.

In the Han Dynasty, the “Zhangba spear” was called Shu, which had a similar sound to the snake, and the spear was like a snake. Therefore, Zhangba’s spear + Xiao was falsely called “Zhangba snake spear”, which spread widely in later generations. In particular, the spearhead of Zhangba snake spear in the embroidered version of the romance of the Three Kingdoms grows and twists like a snake, which is far from its original meaning.

How long is Zhangba snake spear? The length of the Han and Wei dynasties is about one foot eight feet, or about 4.15 meters today. This length is not an exaggeration. When the two armies face each other, both sides stick their spears in front of each other. If the spears are long, they can stab each other first. However, the longer the spear, the better. According to the physical strength and familiarity of the user, the length of the spear is different. It is too long for a single soldier to operate. It is difficult and inflexible. In ancient times, spears were generally more than 3 meters.