Chapter 11 Section 2 Improvement of Bronze Weapons and New Development of Bronze Chariots and Horses

There were new developments and improvements in bronze weapons in the Western Zhou Dynasty.The main weapon Ge has many forms. The main reason is that Hu generally appears at the lower part of the rear end of the Yuan. There are also piercing holes (called piercing) on ​​the Hu for stringing and binding. The common ones are Short Hu-Chuan Ge and Zhong Hu Er Chuan Ge and so on.The widespread appearance of Hu and Chuan enabled the Tong Ge to be more firmly bound to the wooden twig, increasing its lethality even more.Halberd, a cross-shaped halberd appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which is a halberd that combines Ge and thorn (spear) into one.For example, the cross-shaped halberd unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Wei of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Xin Village, Junxian County, Henan Province, has a straight support and a round piercing at the end, straight inside, the upper part is a straight thorn, and the lower part is a long Hu Erchuan.The inscription "Hou" is cast inside.One of them is 27.35 cm high and 18.85 cm wide.A cross-shaped halberd unearthed from the Tomb of Marquis Yan of the Early Western Zhou Dynasty (M1193) in Liulihe, Fangshan, Beijing.There is an inscription cast inside: "Yanhou Wu Ge".

The sword is a short weapon, used for piercing.In the late Shang Dynasty, the northern minority areas have already appeared, such as the late Shang sheep head crank dagger unearthed in Chaodaogou, Qinglong, Hebei.During the Western Zhou Dynasty, many bronze swords were unearthed in the Central Plains. For example, bronze swords were unearthed in Zhangjiapo, Chang'an, Shaanxi, Hejia Village, Qishan, Baicaopo, Lingtai, Gansu, and Liulihe, Fangshan, Beijing.Its characteristic is that most of them are in the shape of willow leaves, straight with ridges, two sharp edges, flat and straight handles, no grid, no head, all of which are daggers.For example, the bronze short sword of the early Western Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Zhangjiapo, Chang'an, is 27 cm long and has two circles on the handle.In addition, daggers also appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, such as the bell dagger unearthed from the tomb of the early Western Zhou Dynasty in Baifu, Changping, Beijing. It is 26 cm long, but the blade is relatively short, accounting for about 1/3 of the total length.

The lacquered wooden shields of the Western Zhou Dynasty have also been improved.Most of the shields are inlaid with bronze shield ornaments, which were called 钖〔yangyang〕 in ancient times, and they can be round, human-faced or animal-faced.It not only strengthens the shield, but also plays an aesthetic and deterrent role.For example, the lacquered wooden shield unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yan in the early Western Zhou Dynasty in Liulihe, Fangshan, is about 1.30 meters high and 0.70 meters wide. In addition to being painted with vermilion or black lacquer, it is also inlaid with round, rhombus or human face-shaped bronze shields.Among them, the round ones are mostly 14-15 cm in diameter, with a round drum in the middle, three groups (two for each group) of perforations on the narrow flat edge, and an inscription in Yangwen on the back: "Yanhou Dance" or "Yanhou Dance (钖The word goes to 钅) (钖)".

The bronze chariots and horses in the Western Zhou Dynasty have new developments, which shows that the chariots in the Western Zhou Dynasty are more perfect and progressive than those in the Shang Dynasty.The new bronze components and decorations mainly include car jurisdiction, hub [gu] decoration, shaft decoration, scale decoration and luan decoration, etc. In addition, car covers also appeared.Bronze carts are generally elongated, with a large upper end and a small lower end. They are used to replace the wooden carts of the Shang Dynasty, and are inserted into the holes of the copper carts, so that the copper carts are more firmly fixed on both ends of the wooden axle.Bronze hubs are decorated on the hubs on both sides of the wheels, and are generally composed of three parts: 輨 [guanguan], (chechuan) [chunchun], and 軧 [di bottom], and they are also cast into a whole.It is slightly trumpet-shaped and cylindrical, and it can not only strengthen the hub, but also keep the wheel upright and prevent the inside and outside from tilting.The new bronze shaft decorations in the Western Zhou Dynasty, or called mace [jianjian], are slightly oval in shape and are set on the axle to fix Futu (horizontal wood on the axle).Its outer end is in the shape of a flat plate, which is used to block and protect the inner hub.During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the number of curved scales increased, that is, the scales were lengthened (some as long as 2.5 meters) and both ends were raised and warped.Some of the ends are covered with hollow bronze spear-shaped balances, and some of the balances are covered with bronze tubular balances (one end is flat and the other end is serrated) and (cheyi) [yi ant] decorations for penetrating the bridle, collectively referred to as Balance ornaments.Luan, the lower part is a trapezoidal seat, and the upper part is a flat round bell, which is installed on the wooden balance in front of the cart or above the yoke of the cart.Its function is just as recorded in "Han Shi Nei Zhuan": "The luan is on the balance, the horse moves when the cart is lifted, and the luan sings when the horse moves." Especially important is that the car cover appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, generally in the shape of an umbrella.The car cover unearthed from the Chema Pit in the Western Zhou Dynasty at Liulihe, Fangshan, Beijing, is round and 1.5 meters in diameter.In short, the addition of the above-mentioned bronze carts in the Western Zhou Dynasty made the carts of the Western Zhou Dynasty stronger and more beautiful than those of the Shang Dynasty.

The newly added bronze horse ornaments in the Western Zhou Dynasty mainly include a horse crown, which is slightly fan-shaped, decorated with animal face patterns, and has perforations around it, which is tied on the horse's forehead with a leather belt.In addition, copper Danglu was widely used in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Most of its shapes are round in the middle, with double horns on the top and long strips in the bottom.In the Western Zhou Dynasty, horned horns and horned bronze horns were popular again.The copper ornaments on the horse's bridle increased, and the cross-shaped tubular copper ornaments were called savings.