What kind of armor did the generals and soldiers wear during the Three Kingdoms era?

The main armors of the Three Kingdoms period include: fish scale armor and leather armor.

Leather armor is somewhat useful against iron knives due to material issues, but it has little protection against piercing weapons such as crossbows and spears.

However, the cost of leather armor was very low, and due to the great economic destruction during the Three Kingdoms period, there was little ability to manufacture iron armor on a large scale, so ordinary soldiers mostly used this.

Fish scale armor is very similar to our country's golden jade clothing, which consists of steel or iron sheets threaded into armor and lined with leather armor to prevent scratches.

The fish scale armor has a strong defense against slashing weapons such as steel knives, but because there are gaps between each piece, it is still lacking in protection against piercing weapons such as crossbows, but the effect is also very good.

Fish scale armor is relatively simple to make, but during the Three Kingdoms period, the economy regressed and manufacturing capacity dropped significantly. Fish scale armor could not be widely used on a large scale like in the Han Dynasty. Only cavalry and generals could afford it.

There are also several types of armor, such as black light armor and bright light armor.

These two types are based on the fish scale armor. There are two large iron or steel plates on the left and right chests that are similar to the heart guards of later generations. The one coated with black paint to prevent rust is called black light armor, and the one polished like a mirror is called Mingguang armor.

Since these two kinds of armor provide complete protection, unlike the fish scale armor, which has gaps in the middle, they are particularly effective in protecting against piercing attack weapons.

Only famous generals or dignitaries can afford this.

In the late Three Kingdoms, a kind of two-crotch armor appeared, which was a whole piece on the chest and a whole piece on the back, and the two pieces were connected with cloth.

This kind of armor has good protection, is simple to make, and is easy to wear. With the economic recovery in the late Three Kingdoms, this kind of armor was widely used, and ordinary soldiers also used it.

This kind of armor not only provides good defense against slashing weapons, but also provides certain protection against piercing weapons.

But since the left and right arms and ribs are not protected, these two places are weak points.

In the Tang Dynasty, a kind of mountain-pattern armor appeared. This kind of armor was purely made of thousands of mountain-shaped steel sheets interlaced with each other. There were no gaps in the middle. In addition, it was made of steel. It can be said to be the best armor. The protective effect was better than

Western barrel armor is more effective.

By understanding the armor of the Three Kingdoms, we can understand why crossbows were able to exert great power during the Three Kingdoms period.

During the Three Kingdoms period, most of the defenses were leather armor or fish scale armor, so arrows were mostly made of bronze, and some were made of iron or steel, but the quantity of the latter was particularly small, mainly because the bronze manufacturing process was quite mature and the cost was low, so it was suitable for

Used extensively.

At that time, there were 50 arrows in a pot, and soldiers usually carried two pots in battle. That is, an archer needed a hundred arrows.

In this way, the 100,000 arrows borrowed by straw boats in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are just the deployment of a thousand soldiers, which is really a drop in the bucket for large-scale wars.

During the Three Kingdoms period, there were many types of arrows according to their uses.

According to the purpose of arrows, there are clear regulations, which are divided into eight types: false arrows, false arrows, killing arrows, arrowheads, false arrows, straight arrows, constant arrows and paralyzed arrows. "Zhou Li·Xia Guan" calls them "Eight Arrows"

.

The useless arrow, the killing arrow, the dead arrow, and the constant arrow are used by bows, and the remaining four are used by crossbows.

Wan Ya and Jie Ya are specially used for combat, also called soldier arrows. They are usually used for attacking and defending cities and chariot battles.

These two types of arrows can be launched with fireballs attached to their necks (the joint between the arrowhead and the shaft), which were called "rockets" in ancient times.

Killing arrows and arrowheads are used for hunting in the field.

The arrows and arrows are used by Yi to shoot at flying birds.

Hengyao and Biyao are used for shooting practice.

There are many types of arrows and different centers of gravity according to the purpose of the weapon arrows.

Therefore, the crossbows during the Three Kingdoms period were very powerful weapons.

In addition, the crossbows during the Three Kingdoms period were all compound bows, which could be made very short but have a long range.

During the Three Kingdoms period, it only took two months to train a qualified crossbowman, while it took at least a year to train a qualified archer.

This may be one of the reasons why Shu used crossbows extensively.

Feixi mentioned the Puyuan Sword of Shu. In fact, this is not a special weapon. It is just an ordinary steel sword. However, each sword needs to be tempered more often, ranging from thirty to a hundred times.

Both Wu and Wei have this.

Luo Luo talked for a long time, and he was a little confused.

Finally, to summarize, the reason why crossbows were so powerful during the Three Kingdoms period was mainly because of the poor defense capabilities of armor.

The armor's poor defense capabilities were mainly due to the severe economic damage at that time and the severe decline in steel production.

In addition, our country already had horse armor at the end of the Han Dynasty. In other words, heavy cavalry existed in our country during the Han Dynasty, but it was rarely used.

Heavy cavalry was widely used in the Jin Dynasty.

However, due to the complex terrain of our country, heavy cavalry and horses are all covered with iron armor. They are too heavy, move very slowly, and cannot travel long distances. Therefore, their use is greatly limited. By the Tang Dynasty, they were regarded as between heavy cavalry and light cavalry.

The new type of cavalry replaced them, and Li Shimin was good at using this type of cavalry.

This kind of cavalry is equipped with heavy armor for men and leather armor for horses.