Battle of Xiangyang - Role of Chinese-designed Gunpowder Weapons

Role of Chinese-designed Gunpowder Weapons

Both the Song and Mongol forces had thunder crash bombs during the siege, a type of gunpowder weapon. the Mongols also utilized siege crossbows and traction trebuchets. The Song forces used fire arrows and fire lances in addition to their own thundercrash bombs. The Song forces also used paddle ships. Siege crossbows and firebombs were also deployed on Song ships against Mongol forces, in addition to fire lances. The name of the bombs in Chinese was Zhen tian lei. They were made from cast iron and filled with gunpowder, the Chinese Song forces delivered them to the enemy via trebuchets. Armor made out of iron could be penetrated by pieces of the bomb after the explosion, which had a 50 kilometer noise range.

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