What were the common weapons used during the Spring and Autumn period?

Economic and Social Changes during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods (below)

Information and Notes

Smelting of Iron and Popularization of Iron Tools

The use of iron had already begun during the Shang Dynasty.At the end of 1972, an iron-bladed copper battle-axe was unearthed from the Shang Dynasty site of Taishi, Gaocheng, Hebei. This weapon, embedded in the copper battle-axe body in front of the casting of iron battle-axe blade, blade by scientific identification, proved to be forged iron. This iron is not artificial smelting, but from the meteorite iron (meteorite explosion fell to the ground in the meteorite, there are more iron or pure iron called meteorite iron), because at that time do not know artificial iron, so the use of meteorite iron in social production has no practical significance.

In recent years, archaeological discoveries in the Sanmenxia Guo cemetery unearthed a copper handle iron sword, scholars believe that this is the late Western Zhou Dynasty in China found the earliest real iron. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Weekend, the poem "Poetry - Qin Feng - Team" from the era of Duke Xiang of Qin (reigned 777 - 766 years ago) had the line "Team Kong Fu", which said that the four horses driving the car were black as iron and especially fat. The use of iron to describe the color of the horses indicates that iron was already in use and familiar to the people. Iron at that time is cooked iron, usually called "block iron", is the ore in the 800 ~ 1 000 ° C conditions, by the charcoal reduction obtained, out of the solid block containing a large number of impurities. This kind of iron has several shortcomings: First, after refining a furnace, can not flow out of the furnace, remove the iron, the hearth to be damaged, can not be continuous production, low productivity, small output. Secondly, it needs to be forged repeatedly to make some simple shaped artifacts. Third, the carbon content is very low, the texture is very soft. Due to the above shortcomings, this kind of iron could not be universally applied. From the current unearthed iron objects, at the latest in the late Spring and Autumn period, China has invented pig iron smelting technology. Pig iron is smelted under the conditions of 1 150 ~ 1 300 ° C, out of the liquid state, can be produced continuously, can be casting molding, high carbon content, the texture is relatively hard. This makes the smelting and molding efficiency as well as product yield and quality are greatly improved. So from block ironmaking to pig iron, is a leap in the history of ironmaking technology. Europe until the 14th century A.D. only refined pig iron, 1,900 years later than our country. Jiangsu Liuhe Chengqiao unearthed in the late Spring and Autumn period of a piece of iron, after scientific analysis, is the white mouth pig iron. This is the earliest unearthed pig iron objects in China until now, but also the world's earliest pig iron objects.

The promotion of iron tools, from the written record, the "Guoyu - Qi language" has this content: "dollars to cast swords and halberds, try to dogs and horses; evil gold to cast (chú, hoe)." "Dollar" refers to bronze, and "bad gold" refers to iron, which was used for casting production tools. It can be seen that in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi had already used iron agricultural tools. Zuozhuan" Zhaogong twenty-ninth year (513 years ago) records: the state of Jin with iron casting tripods, tripods cast with Fan Xuanzi made the book of punishment. The iron used for casting the tripod was collected from the people as a military tax. It can be seen that at that time, Jin had a lot of iron. To the criminal book cast in the iron tripod, not a simple matter, even if the criminal book text is not much, there should be some provisions, the tripod will not be too small, the required flow state of the cast iron will not be too little, otherwise, it is not possible to casting success. Visible at least to the late Spring and Autumn period, the Central Plains cast iron smelting technology has been relatively mature.

From the unearthed artifacts, Jiangsu Liuhe Chengqiao late Spring and Autumn Period Wu Tomb, Hunan Changde Deshan Chu Tomb, Changsha Chu Tomb, as well as Shanxi Houma Beixizhuang site and other unearthed iron, are late Spring and Autumn Period relics. There are iron blocks, iron bars, iron chippings, iron (qiāng, an ancient type of axe), iron (bó, an agricultural tool for hoeing fields and removing grass), iron, iron spares, steel swords, and so on. Some of these iron objects were forged from cooked iron refined by the block-refining method, while others were cast from pig iron. According to the underground excavation, combined with the documentary records, iron farming tools have been used in a considerable range during the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, some copper tools (such as copper hoe, copper shovel, etc.) and a large number of wood, stone, bone, mussel and other raw materials made of agricultural tools are still in the field of production plays a role. Although the use of iron in the Spring and Autumn Period is still in the early stages, but it marks the level of development of agricultural productivity has entered a new stage. As a new factor of productivity, iron tools created conditions for developing mountains and forests, expanding arable land, developing water conservancy and transportation, and promoting social production. Since liberation, from Liaoning in the north, south to Guangdong, east to Shandong Peninsula, west to Shaanxi Sichuan, including Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, Qin seven countries of the vast area of the middle of the Warring States period of the site, there are iron excavated, and a variety of large quantities. In the Wei tombs of the Warring States period in Huixian County, Henan Province, 58 pieces of iron agricultural tools were unearthed, including plowshares, ? , hoe, spade, sickle, axe, etc., of which two "∨" shaped plowshare, although there is no earth turning mirror device, but has been able to play the role of breaking the soil and ditching. The textbook of "the Warring States period of iron farming tools" that is for the Huixian unearthed iron. The widespread use of iron agricultural tools excluded wooden and stone agricultural tools and gained a dominant position. This facilitated the felling of woods, the construction of water conservancies, the reclamation of wasteland and deep plowing, and promoted the development of agricultural production.

Oxen Plowing

Originally, the Central Plains used the foot-operated plowing tool called Lei?ê, in which the plowman held the handle of the Lei?ê in his hand and stepped on the blade with his foot to drive the edge of the blade into the soil, and then poked and pulled it outward to dig up a piece of soil. Plowing is the process of digging up the soil one piece at a time, and the plowman needs to dig up one piece and take a step back. This kind of backward intermittent plowing method is more forceful and less effective. Legend has it that as early as the Shang Dynasty, oxen were used to drive the car, and some people think that there were oxen plowing in the Shang Dynasty according to the hieroglyphics of the oracle bone inscriptions of the word "plow", but the argument is not enough. By the Spring and Autumn Period, there is no doubt that ox plowing was already in use. In this way, plowing became continuous and forward, with less force but better effect, which was an important reform of the plowing technology. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, ox-plowing began in the East, and after Shang Yang's change of law, the state of Qin came to the forefront, and ox-plowing was also widely used. At that time, horses were also used to plow the fields, and Shang Yang, in order to emphasize agriculture, stipulated, "Those who steal horses will die, and those who steal oxen will be added." In the "Treatise on Salt and Iron", it is said that "in the ancient times", people used horses to do their work, pulling carts and "stopping at the plow". The "Ancient Ones", as the Han people put it, refers to the Warring States period and the Qin Dynasty. The combination of animal power and iron tools provided the conditions for intensive farming.

Progress in Agricultural Technology and the Rise of Agricultural Science

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period saw significant progress in agricultural technology. Plowing technology in the words of the time called "deep plowing and hoeing", plow the field to deep, weed to fast. Irrigation methods, the Central Plains has been widely used to irrigate with orange water pulleys, instead of holding the past to draw bottles to irrigate the primitive method. During the Warring States period, farmers knew how to fertilize their fields, and Xunzi - Fortune of Nations has the words "fertilize the fields with more manure", which shows that they knew the importance of fertilization at that time. Not only know the application of animal manure, but also know the use of grass ash and green manure, the weeds cut and burned into ash or water to make it rot, used as fertilizer, improve the soil. The importance of the accumulation of fertilizer fertilization is an important factor in improving agricultural production. Europe to the 10th and 11th centuries, only began to fertilize, 1 300 ~ 1 400 years later than our country. The Warring States period has attached importance to the selection of good varieties, "long bucket of stone, take the top seed", that is to say, to improve food production, we must select the top varieties. People have begun to study the soil, advocating that the first to distinguish the nature of the soil, select the crops suitable for planting in a certain soil to sow. The remarkable progress of agriculture in the Warring States period created a fine tradition of intensive farming in China. At that time, people already knew how to change the soil with human power. That is, plowing should be prioritized according to whether the land is dry and hard or wet and soft; dry and hard land must be ploughed first, and wet and soft land can be ploughed later. Highly dry fields should pay attention to moisture conservation; low wet fields should pay attention to drainage. In order to create excellent conditions for the growth of crops, the ridge should be wide and flat, ditch should be small and deep; seedlings must be arranged in rows to facilitate ventilation; fertilizer to stay dense seedlings, thin land to stay sparse seedlings, fertilizer seedling sparse will increase the ineffectiveness of tillers, thin seedling dense will be due to the lack of water and fertilizer supply and premature death. These practices are in line with the principles of agricultural science. At that time, people also mastered the importance of plowing season. "Time" of the wheat growth and development of good, strong plants, spikes, deep color, heavy wheat grain, less insect pests, high flour rate, taste fragrant, eat the hunger beneficial; "first time" wheat seedlings born too early, vulnerable to pests and diseases; "After the time" wheat seedlings born fragile, sparse spikes, color and lustre is not good. Therefore, it is emphasized that cultivation must be timely.

Improvement of agricultural production in the Warring States period

The widespread use of iron agricultural tools, the development of irrigation and agricultural technology, especially the farmers to improve the enthusiasm for production, the yield per unit area has increased. According to Li Yul on the early years of the Warring States Wei agricultural production estimates, an acre of land in ordinary years can produce one and a half stone of corn, equivalent to today's acres of output of nine buckets. According to the Records of the Grand Historian (史记-河渠书), all the land irrigated by the canal water of the State of Zheng could harvest one bell per mu. A bell is six stone four dou, discount today mu yield three stone eight dou four liters, more than two thousand years ago in the late Warring States production conditions, the yield is very high indeed.

Dujiangyan

Li Bing was appointed governor of Shu County by King Zhao of Qin around 256 to 251 BC. The upper reaches of the Minjiang River are characterized by high mountains and deep valleys, and the water flows rapidly. Once it reaches the Chengdu Plain, the flow rate suddenly slows down, and the sand and gravel carried along with it are then deposited, silting up the river channel. Every summer and fall, the water rises suddenly, often flooding below the irrigation county (in present-day Sichuan). After the rainy season, there would be drought again. In order to irrigate the farmland and turn the water damage into water conservancy, Li Bing summarized the experience of his predecessors in water management, made the best use of the situation, and relied on the local people to build the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project in the city of Dujiangyan, where the Minjiang River flows out of the mountains and into the plains.

Dujiangyan water conservancy project consists of two major systems: the head of the canal and the channel. The head of the canal project consists of three main parts: the Dujiangyan Fish Spout, the Flying Sand Weir, and the Baobuikou. Dujiang fish mouth is built in the Minjiang River mid-stream water diversion construction project, which divided the Minjiang River water into two, the east is called the inner river, for irrigation canal water, the west is called the outer river, is the Minjiang River's main stream. And in the Dujiangyan city near the south bank of the Min River, cut open the foot of Mount Yubi, forming a pile of stones that are separated from the pile and a narrow inlet is the bottle mouth. Neijiang water through the bottle mouth into the dense as a spider web of channel system. The size of the water inlet are placed "bucket door", when you need water to open the bucket door, more water can be closed when the bucket door. "Drought is to draw water to soak, rain is to plug the water gate" ("Huayang Guozhi - Shu Zhi"). When the water of Minjiang River rises in summer and the mouth of the Dujiang River is flooded, Lidui becomes the second water diversion. Immediately after the Neijin Gang embankment and away from the pile between the construction of the fly sand weir, to regulate the amount of water in the Neijiang River, the flood surge, the Neijiang River water can be diffused over the fly sand weir into the outer river, to ensure the safety of the Neijiang River Irrigation System. Dujiangyan water conservancy project is a comprehensive water conservancy project mainly for irrigation and also for flood control and transportation, which not only lifted the disaster of flooding of Minjiang River, but also facilitated shipping and irrigated more than three million mu of farmland, making Chengdu Plain a "land of heaven" with "water and drought from the people, not knowing of famine", and guaranteeing a good harvest in case of drought or flood. ("Huayang Guozhi - Shu Zhi"). Dujiangyan location selection is appropriate, the project layout is reasonable, supporting strict integrity, construction of local materials, the entire system of self-flowing irrigation, with the effort to save and benefit, more than two thousand two hundred years has been benefiting the people. Dujiangyan total branch canal more than five hundred and twenty, the total length of the channel is about one thousand one hundred kilometers, before the liberation of the project is in disrepair, the irrigated area is reduced to more than two million mu. After the liberation, it was vigorously improved and expanded, and now the irrigated area has been expanded to more than eight million mu. It is not only a pearl in the history of China's water conservancy, but also occupies an important position in the history of the world's water conservancy.

Development of Handicrafts

Before the Spring and Autumn Period, commerce and industry were mainly operated by the government, the labor force were slaves, and there were very few private industrialists and businessmen. After the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, with the gradual establishment of private land ownership and the emergence of feudal production relations, the industrial and commercial sector also gradually left the government's keep and developed in the direction of private operation, and private handicrafts and independent individual handicraftsmen, who were mainly engaged in the production of commodities, appeared. They generally engaged in production within their own homes, and some of them set up workshops and stores within the urban markets. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Gongshu Bang (Ban), who was famous for his skills, was one such independent craftsman. Later he was worshipped as the ancestor of craftsmen. At the same time, government merchants could no longer monopolize trade, and private merchants became increasingly powerful. For example, a great merchant of Zheng, Ching Gao, on his way to sell cattle, heard that the Qin army had come to attack Zheng, and when he was too late to report back, he claimed to be a messenger sent by Zheng, and offered 12 oxen and 4 pieces of leather to reward the Qin army. Because of his improvisation, he pretended to be the king's order and treated the Qin army, so that the Qin army mistakenly thought that Zheng had already been informed of the Qin's military action and was prepared for it, and then canceled the sneak attack. The other famous merchants were Fan Li (范蠡), a great physician of the state of Yue, and Zi Gong (子贡), a disciple of Confucius. Confucius traveled around the world and relied to a large extent on Zigong's financial help. From the development of industry and commerce and the change of the status of industrialists and businessmen, it can be seen that in the field of industry and commerce is gradually free from the control and bondage of slavery, and the new factors of feudal relations are growing day by day.

Iron smelting was the most important handicraft sector at that time. Due to the accumulation of years of experience, people already had preliminary knowledge of mining. Guanzi - Earth Counts" said: "If there is dansha on the top, there is gold underneath; if there is magnetite on the top, there is copper and gold underneath; if there is lingshi on the top, there is lead, tin and red copper underneath; if there is ochre on the top, there is iron underneath." The "Shanhaijing - Wuzang Mountain Scripture", written in the Warring States period, recorded that there were more than thirty iron ore mountains with clear locations to be traced. Mountains and Seas Classic of Zhongshan Jing" "Guanzi ground counting chapter" is the statistics "out of the iron of the mountain 3,600 nine", this number is not exaggerated, but this time the discovery of the iron ore mountain must be a lot. From today's Hubei Daye copper green mountain found in the Warring States copper mine site seems to be, vertical shafts up to more than 50 meters deep, used as a traffic aperture. Flat lanes were developed in a horizontal direction to excavate the ore. From the bottom of the ore layer from the bottom up layer by layer to open up the flat lane, in the underground preliminary sorting, will be poor ore, gravel and dirt filled with waste lane, to ensure that most of the lifting out of the rich ore. These indicate that the Warring States period mining technology has been quite advanced, the initial solution to a series of complex technical problems such as underground ventilation, drainage, transportation, lifting, lighting and tunnel support.

What marked the economic breakthrough in the Spring and Autumn Period was the invention of pig iron smelting technology. The progress of iron smelting technology mainly lies in the improvement of the furnace and the increase of furnace temperature, which can not be achieved without expanding and improving the blower equipment. According to Wu Yue Chun Qiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu Yue), when King Helu of Wu was casting two swords, he used "three hundred boys and girls to fill the charcoal with drums", and then "The gold and iron were moistened, and then the swords were made. Explained that the furnace used at that time is quite a lot of jewels. During the Warring States period, the iron smelting furnace used rows of jewels to drum the wind. The large-scale smelting site has several hundred craftsmen. Archaeologists have found six iron smelting workshops in the old city of Linzi, the largest of which covers an area of about 400,000 square meters. Yan State Yan Shimdu is also an important iron smelting site, in its ruins found iron smelting workshop three, a total area of 300,000 square meters. There were iron smelting centers in various countries, the most famous one being Wan of Chu, the so-called "Wan Kui (iron and steel) Iron (shī), as miserable as an insect (chài, scorpions and other poisonous insects)", which indicated that the quality of weapons produced in Wan was very high. Handan of the State of Zhao is an important iron smelting industry, not only the Handan people Guo Zong iron smelting industry, rich than the king, is the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty iron smelting industry Zhuo's, whose ancestors are also the Zhao people, because of iron smelting to get rich.

Cast iron tools were widely used during the Warring States period, but the early cast iron was hard and brittle white iron, easily broken. At that time, the working people in the production practice created the cast iron by high-temperature annealing, so that it becomes a relatively high hardness, but also has a relatively good toughness of malleable cast iron. According to the different conditions of heat treatment, the main decarburization becomes white heart malleable cast iron; graphitization becomes black heart malleable cast iron. After the middle of the warring states, iron was so widely used, the invention and development of malleable cast iron played an important role. Foreign white malleable cast iron was first invented by the French in 1722. Black heart malleable cast iron was invented by American in 1826. Since then a fairly long period of time, people call the white malleable iron "European malleable iron", the black malleable iron called "American malleable iron". In fact, China's invention of malleable cast iron than their early two thousand years.

Spring and Autumn period of Qi's sea salt cooking industry and Jin's Hedong salt cooking industry have flourished. Hedong salt was regarded as the "national treasure". During the Warring States period, the sea salt cooking industry of Qi and Yan was more developed, with more sea salt production and wide circulation. At the same time, when Li Bing was the governor of Shu County, the well salt in Sichuan had begun to develop.

Textile industry. At that time, sericulture was common in the countryside of the Yellow River basin and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, all of which produced silk fabrics. Among them, the silk fabrics produced by Qi and Lu were more exquisite. Qi women's red (workers) textile technology is extremely famous, the production of silk fabrics are widely marketed, the so-called "crown and belt, clothes and shoes all over the world" ("Shi Ji Guoshi Liezhuan"). At that time, the vassal states commonly used silk fabrics as ornaments, up to 5,000 pi at a time. Hemp fabrics were more common than silk fabrics, which were the main clothing material of the working people at that time, and also the main commodities at that time. Changsha unearthed fragments of hemp cloth, more than the general cotton cloth to be close (hemp cloth warp yarn 280 per 10 centimeters, 240 per 10 centimeters of weft yarn, and now cotton in the leading fine cloth, per 10 centimeters of warp yarn 254 weft yarn 248), indicating that the hemp weaving technology was highly sophisticated.

Lacquer craft in the Spring and Autumn also attached to the wood industry. After the middle of the Warring States rapidly developed into an independent handicraft sector. Early Warring States lacquer wood tires are still very heavy, often in the fine carved wood with colored lacquer. After the middle of the Warring States period, the wood became lighter, the color of the lacquer black, Zhu, yellow, purple, white, green and so on more than ten kinds of, often in the artifacts with the color of the lacquer painted into a variety of images and patterns. Some of the edges of daily-use lacquer ware are also inlaid with gold or copper edges, the so-called gold and copper buttons. This all shows the progress of the lacquerware process.