Qin Army

In Chinese but with English subtitles

Episode 1 (Qin's Army)











Episode 2 (Bloody Bronze - weapons)












Episode 3 (Battle of Changping - formation)











Episode 4 Transportation







Episode 5 Total War



Will update: as soon as new episodes arrive.

The videos were quite interesting. It summarizes some of the stuff that were documented before, but now there is new material.

The use of halberd (ge), crossbows (nu), spears (qiang) and pikes (pi), makes the Qin army closer to a medieval Swiss one than an ancient army. Sometimes the composition of weapons can form and shape the tactics used by the army. As you can expect, the spear phalanxes is expected to protect the crossbow matrices, while the pike and halberd matrices will protect the flanks of the spear matrices and provide the close combat capability the extremely long spears (21ft) cannot. It should be noted that the Macedonian phalanx that used the 18 to 21 ft long Sarissa spears are shieldless and carry these extremely long spears with both hands, since it is impossible to carry them with one. Despite being shieldless, this phalanx formation took good care of the traditional Greek phalanx with shield and shorter one arm carried spears.

Some comments on the crossbows. Since the last debate on the topic, I've gone to research some more things about why the crossbow is more accurate than the bow and arrow. On a bow, the stronger the tension, which will give the arrow more penetration power, the less accurate it becomes due to the quavering of the arm under stress. For the crossbow this does not exist. The trigger mechanisms are crafted in a way, that they have a "sink" feeling when you press the trigger. Anyone who has shot with guns know that the feel and the press of the trigger, can influence accuracy. As explained in the videos, the three faced bullet shaped bodkin meant that the aerodynamics of the bodkin had less drag than the typical winged arrowhead and is less subject to cross wind interference.

The video re-enaction showed the Qin cavaliers carrying the large crossbow. That probably is not correct, the crossbows come in different sizes, and the ones the cavaliers carry should not be as big as the ones on foot carry. For that matter, the smaller crossbows probably meant they can be reloaded with both hands without involving the foot.

I should note that in the movie "Heroes", you can see the crossbowmen sat on their butts to pull the bow with both their legs and arms, then fired from that position. However, the stance in the Terra Cotta army showed that the crossbowmen would reload while standing up, using their foot to hold down the bow while pulling the strings with both hands.

The Qin cavaliers are likely to have bowmen but composite bows in the terra cotta army could have rotten away. There has been bronze depictions of shields in small figures; the real shields are probably made of wood and leather and would have rotted away.

It is interesting that the melee weapon the Qin army seems to have a trademark on is the ge or halberd. All the warring states have ge one way or another but the Qin seemed to have the most of them. The halberd is quite a deadly weapon because unlike the spear, it can be used for overhead slashing attacks. It can be used to hook the enemy, and the space between the dagger point and the axe edge can be used to trap spears and lances then break them.

Although the halberd is considered one of the 18 legendary Chinese martial arts weapons, in succeeding dynasties, it become to be used less and less. I think the fall of the halberd, as well as the extremely long spears, had something to do ironically with the shorter spears. You see the shorter spear can be used to attack beyond the range of the long spear simply by throwing it like a javelin. This is a key reason how the Romans get to pawn the Macedonian phalanx. But why was the phalanx resurrected with the Swiss? That's because the Swiss used theirs only as part of a combined army---the crossbowmen and musketeers would have easily taken spear throwers.

In that sense, the different weapons systems and matrices in the Qin army are supposed to cover each others backs.

It is noteworthy about the mindset of a ruler that has to be buried with an army. The classic kingly burial of antiquity, even in China, are magnificent tombs and mauseuleums, with great treasures, arts works, sculpture and paintings of gods, and depictions of the king in the afterlife with prayers. What you tend to bury with your ruler are reflections and representations of the wealth and beliefs of a nation. And they say, what a ruler is buried with is what he treasures the most.

Look at this guy. He built statues not of gods, but of his own soldiers. Unlike Rameses II, there is hardly busted reliefs and huge statues of himself anywhere. This is not a guy who is interested in building magnificent cities, palaces, and temples. This is one guy who is absolutely obsessed with all things military to the last detail. Right to the very end of life, this is a ruler whose last thoughts was to pawn somebody. If a nation buries its wealth with its ruler, then you can see here, that the Qin is a nation whose sole wealth and means of production is only aimed at one thing, to build weapons and all things military. You can seriously see a guy, and the kingdom he rules, is only focused in one thing, and one thing only, pawning somebody. Legend says that Qin Shi Huangdi purposely built this army for one thing, and that is bring his legions to heaven itself and conquer it.

crobato said:

Look at this guy. He built statues not of gods, but of his own soldiers. Unlike Rameses II, there is hardly busted reliefs and huge statues of himself anywhere. This is not a guy who is interested in building magnificent cities, palaces, and temples. This is one guy who is absolutely obsessed with all things military to the last detail. Right to the very end of life, this is a ruler whose last thoughts was to pawn somebody. If a nation buries its wealth with its ruler, then you can see here, that the Qin is a nation whose sole wealth and means of production is only aimed at one thing, to build weapons and all things military. You can seriously see a guy, and the kingdom he rules, is only focused in one thing, and one thing only, pawning somebody. Legend says that Qin Shi Huangdi purposely built this army for one thing, and that is bring his legions to heaven itself and conquer it.

Click to expand...

Actually the first emperor wanted to rule the country forever and enjoy the good life forever, he built the famous 'Er Fang' palace, which according to written records to be the biggest and most luxurious palace ever built in chinese history, where he kept female relatives of defeated kings, he did whatever he could to seek immortality, which eventually caused his death(by drinking poisonous 'immortality potions'). He wanted his empire and himself to be protected forever sothat the empire can last thousand generations, starting with himself as first and his son as second. To achive this, he destroied all weapons outside the imperial army, destoried all books that could spread dangerous thoughts, kept his army like in wartime, and stayed living in Changan which was the safest place in whole china.

The legend of conquering the heaven ... first time I heard it, according to chinese culture, the Emperor was alreay a god, son of the heaven, couquring the heaven is not something for him to do, cause he was part of the heaven himself. Only rebelions like the "monkey king", or later the communists could get such ideas of conquring the heaven or the hell.

The guy was ingesting mercury directly. The superstitious would have thought that mercury is some godly liquid. Only in the late 20th Century did we think that mercury is a poison. Ingesting mercury would have affected Qin Shi Huangdi's brain and made him mad, and he probably died from it too.

There is also a dark side with the Qin army is that officers and soldiers have quotas for cutting heads. There is a systemic outline of progressive rewards given when you cut heads. Given how many heads you cut---

A slave can be given his freedom.
A family can be given anything from tax incentives to land.
Nobility can get bigger titles.
Officers can ascend in rank depending on quota.
Soldiers can become officers.
The dishonored can regain their honor.

As a result, the Qin army becomes one large decapitating machine where it went, counting among its victims, its own injured, murdered by the less than scrupulous, as well as helpless and unlucky civilians. This is an army that really does not take prisoners, matching its brutality with systemic efficiency.

went to Xi'an few years ago and had a thorough look through various museums and the sites. Qin was so far ahead of any nations on Earth during its time. Its army was used combined force tactics on both tactical and operational level. Qin was famed for bow and crossbow and the combination of long pike and crossbow lead Qin not only to conquer other 6 kingdoms but also Hun and Yuet tribes in both south and north. Also in the grand history, Qin had a independent cavalry force that used for long range strike, which is quite different from Alexender’s hammer and anvil tactics, Alex’s cavalry although strong, but was nonetheless used solely in conjunction with phalanx, whereas Qin’s cavalry was used to independently, akin to the panzer of WW2.
It political structure was also far ahead, based on legalism principle, the entire nation exist for one purpose, war, its merit based system allowed legendry commanders like Bai Qi, ministers like Li Si to take high governmental positions.
As for technology, it was the first nation to use factory like mass production techniques, the Terracotta army was the best example, and they were produced with the same standard. Also it built various canals, and water works, some of them are still functional.

Bump: added first part of episode 4.

Really interesting episode of how the Qin army built a canal to bridge the Yangtze and the Pearl river in order to conquer the South.

They seemed more ingenious than the successors. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wei tried to conquer the south by passing through the Yangtze using an ambitious amphibous operation, which failed dramatically the first time in the Battle of Chibi.

during the spring & autumn period, the chinese liked to use a type of joint task force revolving around a battle chariot. it includes archers, spearman, swordsman, halberdiers and heavy armored charioteers. it can be used as a mobile battle platform and it was proven to be versitile and effective in melee and skirmish *(this was based on availablity of battle chariots or light chariots, rest of the infantry would be arranged otherwise). however, after the introduction of crossbows, the heavy clusters of joint units became easy targets for crossbowman who could use drilled volleys. this led to the decline in chariot warfare and also along with the advancement in military strategy, shifted the chinese forces to become more lighter and mobile. crossbows at that time could out range of bows(200yards), and it could penetrate shields and heavy armor, so it is very different to arrows. however, heavy armored elite units were still existed

as to note the qin conquests, look up "bai qi". he is the commander who defeated the alliance of wei (250,000) with 100,000 of his own, the person who won zhangping (400,000+ enemies slain) and he was also the general responsible for turning the chu counter attack into a full retreat, and he captured the capital of chu. he then decimated the country and was only called back by his king because the king wanted to keep last of chu as a buffer zone. he is rated as the best general of his time, and one of the most successful generals of all times. this is not to belittle all the efforts generations of kings made to make qin a powerful kingdom, but if you'll notice qin loses quite a few of its battles without bai qi and wang jian(as bai qi defeated all of the foes, wang jian finished up the job by unifyng china). and its not the hyped up military like you always hear about. wei has alot of professional and elite soldiers before their defeat, han had the best bows and swords, steel infact. zhao had excellent cav due to reforms, and chu had a huge population, and was able to mobolise 1m conscripts, although chu was the only kingdom where slavery was still legal. they are all by no means a walk over.

edit: many of the acts of attritions were basically done by bai qi as well, and he has a bad name due to that. he gave the orders to continue to pursue and kill after defeating wei-han alliance, he gave the orders to kill the 400,000 prisoners, and he also flooded a city in his chu campaign (mind u, he was cut off from supply, behind enemy lines and enemies out numbered him atlest 10-1)

Update:

Added part 2 of episode 4.

Shows the military logistics on the defence of the Greatwall.